I ran across a few interesting health and human rights issues in the news this week, and I thought I’d share them. Researchers have concluded that the benefits of Vitamin A supplements for children’s health have been established so clearly that further trials would be unethical. A woman who sued a Tennessee sheriff’s department after she was shackled while she was in labor has been awarded damages. And the South African government continues to fail to uphold its laws: this time, it’s about the abuse of workers on wine and fruit farms.
More Vitamin A For Child Health: I’ve written about the need for more roads in less-developed countries to improve health outcomes, despite the “un-sexiness” of such an undertaking. Another one of these less-attractive issues is Vitamin A deficiency in children in low- and middle-income countries. As NPR reports, new studies have further cemented the importance of Vitamin A for children’s health. A review of 43 studies in The British Medical Journal has found that Vitamin A supplements have reduced child mortality by 24%, and that their efficacy is so well-established that further placebo trials would be unethical. Taking Vitamin A can prevent measles, diarrhea, and vision problems, including blindness. The study mentions that if the estimated 190 million children deficient in Vitamin A were given supplements, over 600,000 lives could be saved each year. That’s a huge number. Vitamin A supplements are another simple solution for child morbidity and mortality that could save hundreds of thousands of lives and improve health. It’s time to find ways to integrate Vitamin A supplements into child health care at key points, such as vaccinations and routine visits, and to invest in supplying supplements and training health providers while also funding longer-term solutions, such as promotion of Vitamin A-rich foods (carrots, orange sweet potatoes, etc.) and breastfeeding.
Shackling of Incarcerated Woman During Labor and Delivery: Last week, a jury awarded Juana Villegas $200,000 in damages after she sued a Tennessee sheriff’s department for shackling her during labor. Villegas, whose story was reported in The New York Times in 2008, was stopped for a routine traffic violation and then arrested when the officer learned she was an undocumented immigrant. She went into labor while incarcerated and had her feet and hands shackled during the ambulance ride and one leg shackled while in labor at the hospital. She was freed briefly during delivery of her child. At her discharge from the hospital, she was not allowed to see her nursing infant for two days and denied use of a breast pump while incarcerated. She developed a breast infection, and her baby developed jaundice. Unfortunately, Villegas’ story is not singular: imprisoned women in many American states are shackled during labor and delivery. As the ACLU points out, the Villegas case and other developments have put the inhumane practice of shackling back in the limelight, but more must be done to stop the violation of women’s rights, whether those women are convicted of crimes or not. Shackling during labor and delivery violates a person’s right to freedom from inhumane and degrading treatment, can endanger a woman’s and her baby’s health, and is simply cruel and unnecessary. It’s time for the US to start treating its incarcerated populations with a little more humanity.
Dangerous Working Conditions on South African Wine Farms: As it turns out, maternal health is not the only place in which the South African government is failing. Human Rights Watch has documented poor working and living conditions for agricultural workers on Western Cape wine and fruit farms. HRW writes that farm workers, who are among the lowest-paid in the country, are provided with substandard housing, illegally evicted, exposed to pesticides, and not given access to toilets, water, and/or electricity. Strong labor and housing laws are on the books in South Africa, but the government has failed to enforce these laws. It is estimated that between 1994 and 2004, 900,000 people were evicted from farms and that less than one percent of evictions from farms involve a legal process. Below, an eight-minute video from HRW on its findings (you can also access the video here). HRW’s last two reports on South Africa expose a pattern of weak governmental enforcement and illustrate the need for reform and for stronger oversight, especially when it comes to labor and health rights for the country’s most vulnerable populations.
