Maria in Puerto Rico: Natural Disaster in a Colonial Archipelago

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 108; no. 1; pp. 30 - 32
• Main Author: Rodríguez-Díaz, Carlos E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Public Health Association 01.01.2018
• Subjects: AJPH Hurricanes; Austerity policy; Colleges & universities; Colonialism; Cyclonic Storms - mortality; Diaspora; Disasters; Disasters - economics; Economic crisis; Emergency preparedness; Emergency response; Epidemics; Flavivirus; GDP; Graduate schools; Gross Domestic Product; Health care policy; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humanitarianism; Humans; Hurricanes; Medical research; Natural disasters; Neighborhoods; Premature birth; Public health; Public Health - standards; Public relations; Puerto Rico; Relief Work - economics; Relief Work - organization & administration; Relief Work - standards; Resilience, Psychological; Roads & highways; Social Science; Sociopolitical factors; States; Surveillance; Viruses; Zika virus; Puerto Rico; United States > US
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2017.304198

[...]community-level actions were fundamental in restoring access to neighborhoods and, ultimately, saving lives. When compared with US states and territories, Puerto Rico has the highest prevalence rates of premature births,4 one of the highest incidence rates of HIV,5 and was the focal point of the Zika virus epidemic.6 The potential implications of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria are severe for public health, when one considers that Puerto Rico is also structurally underresourced. The possible implementation of further austerity measures on Puerto Rico's government budget raises even more concerns about the availability of local resources to address the health care challenges posed by the public health situation after Hurricane Maria. [...]the federal response to the emergency in Puerto Rico has been slow and limited. Correspondence should be sent to Carlos E. Rodríguez-Díaz, Associate Professor, Doctoral Program in Public Health with Specialty in Social Determinants of Health and the Center for Evaluation and Sociomedical Research, Graduate School ofPublic Health, University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences Campus, PO Box 365067, San Juan, PR 00936-5067 (e-mail: carlos.rodriguez64@upr.edu).