Organic organigrams

If you are a fellow foodie, food systems or food policy type (wanna be's are welcome too) you might find these graphics mapping major US organic brands as interesting as I do. (The video animation showing how the mergers and acquisitions of brands has happened over time is particularly cool but a little hard to see).

In his book, The Omnivore's Dilemna, Michael Pollen talks about "Big Organic" - large food companies that are starting up or acquiring organic labels to grab a segment of the growing US market. These graphics really help give you a sense of how that is playing out.

Back to blue skies

After a very gray and rainy week we were back to blue skies and hot muggy weather over Port-au-Prince today. A Category 1 Hurricane Gustav passed over Haiti on Tuesday and Wednesday and is currently picking up force as it heads towards Cuba.

There was a lot of nervous anticipation about the storm on Monday and Tuesday . The clinic closed early on Tuesday as the rain started to fall. We stayed closed for Wednesday. In the end, we didn't experience high winds here in the city- just 24 hours of steady rain and a 10-15 degree drop in temperature that lasted about 2 days.

24-hours of steady rain isn't much of a problem up on the hill where I live - just some interrupted internet access and a little stir craziness. It can be a huge problem in the slum communities along the coast and on the eroded hillsides prone to mudslides. Imagine trying to feed and put your toddler to bed when there is water coming from everywhere - down through the roof and up from the floors of your one-room structure made from mud, cardboard, tarps and wood scraps. I heard one story of mothers putting kids in garbage bags up to their necks and having them sit under the table in hopes of keeping them halfway dry.

By Wednesday afternoon the rains stopped but most businesses remained closed and the streets were quiet. I read one article saying that recent efforts to clear garbage from sewage canals helped control flooding in Port-au-Prince relative to other storms - very good news. Things were back to normal in the clinic on Thursday.

After two days of canceled flights, the airport was the most chaotic place to be in Port-au-Prince in the wake of the storm. Extra planes from Miami and New York were added to the schedule on Thursday and Friday resulting in way too many people and bags moving through a relatively small airport. A friend traveling out on Thursday morning said she had to pay two different porters $20 each just to get through the massive crowds and police barricades to make her highly delayed flight.

Sadly the Gustav story is very different for those people living in and around the lovely beach town of Jakmel - about 60km south of Port-au-Prince - where the storm made landfall. Estimates are that across Haiti 51 people died and 6,300 people have been displaced as the winds and rains washed out homes, roads and bridges. Damages to crops and livestock remain uncertain - any damage at all is discouraging given the present "food crisis". (see AP article here)

The story isn't over yet - Cuba braces for a much stronger Gustav and I've seen lots of reports about preparations and evacuations in New Orleans and Louisiana. There are predictions of an active hurricane season all the way through November.

Getting to the roots of a problem

National Geographic has an online article on soil which includes this sidebar on soil erosion in Haiti. Extreme widespread deforestation has contributed to the loss of topsoil which in turn greatly impacts the productivity of the land. Even if global trade barriers were lifted, allowing Haitian farmers to get a fair price for their crops, they may still be unable to produce enough to feed the population due to the infertility of the land.

Many people don't realize is that soil quality greatly impacts the nutritional value of the crops group grown in that soil - particularly for minerals like selenium and iodine. Selenium deficiency in humans in China can be traced to the low selenium content of much of the Chinese agricultural land. One of the most effective ways to improve the iodine content of people's diets is to introduce iodine into the water used to irrigate plants.

The good news is that many soils can be restored and renewed - with intentional farming and conservation practices. Farmers rather than clinicians should probably be thought of as our frontline nutritionists.

Name that twang

For something new and different in the realm of online geography quizzes, check out the "where is my accent from?" game here.

Yon bon ekip (a good team)

Yesterday we said goodbye to Kristen, the Cornell medical student who spent 8 weeks working with our nutrition team this summer. Not only was K a fabulous addition to our work team - but she quickly became a dear friend. It's sad to see her go but am thankful that my frequent stopovers in NYC mean that this wasn't a final farewell.

The nutrition team wanted to plan a real Haitian style send-off for K. Here are some photos. It's also a great chance to finally introduce you to the people I'm privileged to work with for this peanut-buttery good endeavor: Adeline, Suzette, Kristen, Ghisline, Miss Maitre (photo left to right).

A and S identify and recruit new participants, follow-on on our baseline control group and generally get all little the things that need to be done done. They are usually one step ahead of me - when I was worrying about how we were going to find mothers of children a certain age, A told me not to worry because she had been collecting phone numbers of mothers with small babies who visited the clinic for the previous few months - totally on her own initiative. G is an amazing counselor and educator - her last job was with a community-based child health program. She is our go-to woman for creative health education song lyrics. She conducts interviews with the mothers, provides one-on-one nutritional conselling and helps facilitate group sessions. Miss Maitre (Miss is term used for nurses in Haiti) is our fearless (truly fearless) leader. She radiates confidence and enthusiasm, is passionate about education, loves people where they are at - and is looked up to by the other staff and patients. She is a truly amazing person - a woman of faith and constant prayer, a tireless advocate of family planning and breast cancer survivor (she had cancer in her early 30's). Her first job was on a Haitian psychiatric ward - a job she loved - but that most anyone else would hate. MM supervises our team, is involved with planning and data management, and supports G in leading group and individual sessions. She laughs at me (and with me) every single day.

I can't even begin to describe how blessed I am to work with these women. There is a story of answered prayer behind how each of them came to join our team. I can't imagine doing this without them - si bondye vle (God willing) I won't ever have to!