A Pilot Study to Examine the Disparities in Water Quality between Predominantly Haitian Neighborhoods and Dominican Neighborhoods in Two Cities in the Dominican Republic

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Jessica Rogers-Brown¹  Ryan Johnson¹  Dominique Smith¹  Kim Ramsey-White¹  Mark Edberg²  Barbara E. Hayes²  Valerie Montgomery Rice² 

[1] Center for Excellence on Health Disparities Research, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA

关键词: health disparities;    E. coli;    water quality;    waterborne disease;    developing economies;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph13010039

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Worldwide, diarrheal disease is a leading cause of death affecting over 1.7 million individuals annually. Much of this can be attributed to lack of clean water, sanitation and hygiene. Nearly all of these deaths occur in countries with developing economies. This public health problem is apparent in the island of Hispaniola; the island that is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Significant gaps in income between the countries have resulted in Haitians migrating into the Dominican Republic. While there has been increased migration into the Dominican Republic, many of the neighborhoods remain segregated. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted at 49 sites in the Dominican Republic. Samples were classified as being from a Haitian neighborhood or Dominican neighborhood and analyzed for microbial contamination. Overall, Haitian neighborhoods were found to have statistically significantly higher levels of contamination of both coliform and E. coli. The odds of having E. coli contaminated water in Haitian neighborhoods are 4.25 times as high as Dominican neighborhoods. The odds of having coliform contaminated water in Haitian neighborhoods are 4.78 times as high as Dominican neighborhoods. This study provides evidence of the disparity in access to clean drinking water for Haitian immigrants and highlights the need for further investigation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.