Two years after the earthquake, many in the country are still struggling just to survive the day. But attention needs to move away from a focus on basic needs to helping Haitians build for the future.

Weeks before the devastating earthquake struck Haiti in early 2010, I had the opportunity to visit the country with a team of our scientists and engineers to explore ways that we at Abbot pharmaceutical could lend our expertise to advance the work of longstanding nonprofit health care leader Partners In Health (PIH). Amidst Haiti’s many challenges and ingrained poverty, I saw firsthand the positive impact of linking health interventions with economic development in Haiti’s Central Plateau region. PIH and its sister farming organization, Zanmi Agrikol, were helping to address critical health and nutrition needs, while at the same time delivering something equally important: an economic cluster of activity that provides jobs and training–the building blocks for a better future.

Of course, with the earthquake and its aftermath, the focus for many Haitians shifted away from building their future, to just surviving to see tomorrow. Two years later, significant challenges remain. Half the rubble in Port-au-Prince still needs to be removed. A million people have left the camps, but a half million remain in tents. Cholera continues to be an issue, and access to clean water, sanitation, and health care is still limited.

Traditional aid, in the form of donations from governments, companies, and individuals, has saved countless lives and continues to play an important role in addressing these issues in Port-au-Prince, and across the country. Like many other donors, Abbott is committed to continuing this aid to address acute needs.

However, on a return trip to Haiti earlier this year, the central importance of jobs was apparent once again. I heard from many Haitians in the capital that they are eager to move beyond handouts–they want opportunities to work, so they can play an active role in rebuilding their lives and their communities.

To help the Haitian people turn the corner to a better future, the international community first has to look beyond donations and make economic development a key focus for rebuilding Haiti.

As the main catalyst for jobs and economic activity, the business sector has a critically important role to play in this effort. We’re beginning to see encouraging signs that companies are finding ways to advance their core business by establishing operations or pursuing marketing opportunities in Haiti.

Outdoor outfitter Timberland epitomizes this shift. Building on a longstanding philanthropic presence in Haiti focused on reforestation, last year the company opened a factory in the country to manufacture shoes, hiring and training local staff.

A Korean clothing supplier for many big-box stores, Sae-A, is soon to become Haiti’s largest private employer when it opens a new factory employing 20,000 Haitians. Longer term, they plan to knit textiles using home-grown cotton and other materials, extending the economic benefit to local farms.

Years ago, thriving farms were a source of strength and pride in Haiti, but recent years have seen a decline in the agriculture sector. More than 50% of the country’s food comes from overseas today, compared to 20% a few decades ago.

Building on Haiti’s longstanding farming tradition, international experts see tremendous opportunity to reverse this trend, with a revitalized agriculture sector playing a key role in Haiti’s future.

Many organizations and companies are working to catalyze these opportunities. The nonprofit social investment fund Root Capital is providing farmers with loans, market connections, and technical training in financing and crop management, helping small-scale farmers to sustainably increase yields for coffee, mangoes, and other crops.

Experts from across Abbott are working with PIH to build a food production facility in Corporant that will source peanuts and other crops from more than 200 local farmers, and train workers to handle all aspects of production. Once the facility opens, we anticipate that a significant increase in demand for peanuts also will help to expand opportunities for farmers to hire more workers and increase their crop yields in the years ahead.

One common factor in all of these examples is the importance of partnership to empower the people of Haiti. The Sae-A factory is located on land donated by the Haitian government, and is part of a broader development project funded by the U.S. government and the Inter-American Development Bank. Root Capital’s work in Haiti is supported in part by the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Our work with PIH combines the expertise and resources of a leading nonprofit and a global health care company.

Through collaboration among the public, private, and civil sectors, jobs and economic opportunity can be created, which will help to alleviate poverty and its many negative impacts on health, nutrition, and other social issues. With Port-au-Prince just beginning to dig out from the earthquake, these lessons from Haiti’s heartland can help the capital, and the broader country, to turn the corner from the earthquake to a brighter future ahead.

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The $1.3 million vaccination project led by Boston-based nonprofit Partners in Help, the Haitian nonprofit GHESKIO and the Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population will benefit from the Red Cross’ contribution.

Two primary benefits will be achieved with the vaccine – the Haitian Ministry of Health will learn about the feasibility of delivering vaccines on a national level and some of Haiti’s most vulnerable populations will receive protection from the disease.

“Support from the American Red Cross is essential to our delivering this safe, affordable and effective oral cholera vaccine in Haiti,” said Dr. Louise Ivers, senior health and policy advisor to Partners In Health. “We must utilize all tools available to help prevent continued needless deaths.”

Projects that are engaged in nonprofit fundraising could use web-based services or innovative programs to track and maintain accurate records of their efforts.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti, the United States and international partners are launching a nationwide vaccination campaign in the Caribbean country that seeks to curb or prevent infectious diseases, health officials said Monday.

On a two-day visit to Haiti, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the effort to vaccinate Haitians against such diseases as diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough is critical because the country is especially vulnerable to diseases brought from outside.

“We know the population in Haiti remains at risk for cases imported from other parts of the world because of low vaccine coverage rates here for both polio and measles rubella among infants,” Sebelius told reporters following a tour of the Eliazar Germain hospital in Haiti’s capital. “That’s why an important part of the reconstruction efforts after the January 2010 earthquake response was rebuilding the childhood immunization infrastructure.”

Immunization rates are low in Haiti. Coverage for measles and polios for 1-year olds, for example, is only a little more than half of the country’s 10 million inhabitants, according to the World Health Organization.

And the ability for infectious diseases to spread quickly in Haiti is evident. A cholera epidemic has ravaged the country since it surfaced a few months after the 2010 earthquake and gone on to kill more than 7,000 people and sicken 530,000 more, according to Haitian health officials. Scientific studies say a unit of peacekeepers from Nepal inadvertently brought the disease from their homeland, where the disease is endemic.

The campaign launched Monday is ambitious and, according to Health Minister Dr. Florence Duperval Guillaume, seeks to vaccinate 90 percent of Haiti’s youth population. The vaccines will be free, she added.

The vaccines aim to immunize children for measles rubella and polio and other diseases, and immunization will be staggered. Vaccination for measles rubella and polio will begin Saturday.

The other vaccine to be introduced Monday is pentavalent, which is used to prevent diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type b, a bacterium that causes meningitis and pneumonia. It also began today but will be broadly available in June.

The campaign will be supported in part by the GAVI Alliance, a group of international health organizations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. In 2012, the GAVI Alliance will provide Haiti with $ 7.5 million for the pentavalent vaccine in Haiti. The Haitian government will contribute $177,500, which is being paid for by the CDC. GAVI also provided $100,000 to the Haitian government to train health workers.

The CDC is paying another $3.5 million — $2.5 million for the measles rubella campaign and $1 million for the polio one.

The campaign is part of a broader effort announced this month to vaccinate Haitians.

The Boston-based Partners in Health and the Haitian-run Gheskio Center have teamed up to distribute a two-dose, oral vaccine for cholera to as many as 50,000 Haitians in the capital and in a rice-farming community in the countryside. In the end, the groups plan to vaccinate 100,000 people, or 1 percent of Haiti’s population.

Distribution of the Shanchol cholera vaccine was supposed to begin in January but was delayed because an ethics committee in the Health Ministry expressed concerns that the groups wanted to use the vaccine as a research project rather than as a pilot project. It wasn’t until last week that the Health Ministry approved the roll out.

Here’s the official media release:

Florida Atlantic University’s College of Education will launch its 2012 Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series with a presentation by Eustache Jean-Louis, M.D., M.P.H., project director for the City of Boston Public Health Commission and executive director of the Center for Community Health, Education & Research, Inc. “Health and Education Issues in Haiti and the Local Haitian Community: Research and Service Opportunities” will take place on Thursday, February 23 at 6 p.m. in the Live Oak Pavilion, FAU Student Union, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus.  A reception will precede the lecture from 5 to 5:45 p.m., and a panel discussion will follow at 7 p.m.

Jean-Louis will discuss the fact that newcomers to the U.S. often face insurmountable barriers in the areas of language, literacy, cultural adaptation, immigration status, discrimination and socioeconomic survival. For most Haitian immigrants, health and education are secondary to the basic survival needs of food and shelter. In terms of increasing their individual assets for a better community, resources need to be marshaled toward a collaborative effort to assist them in making the necessary transition.

“The Haitian American community is a growing minority population in Florida, and Haitian immigrants and their families are quickly becoming an integral part of the larger Floridian community,” said Michael Hall, Ph.D., C.H.E.S, visiting assistant professor in the department of exercise science and health promotion within FAU’s College of Education and chair of the Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series committee. “We look forward to learning about Dr. Jean-Louis’ innovative approach and how the FAU community and its collaborating partners may be able to connect resources to Haitian Americans in Florida.”

In his role with the Center for Community Health, Education & Research, a nonprofit organization that provides health, social and prevention services to the uninsured and underserved, Jean-Louis conducts research and develops and manages health intervention programs targeting the Boston Haitian community.

Like many of you, when I saw the news about the passing of Whitney Houston I could not believe it.  Her death caught all of us by surprise. Whether you are White, Black, male or female, young or old Whitney’s music inspired us all.

As they say, music is a universal language.  At the age of 10, I remember being in Haiti singing and jamming to “I want to dance with somebody” “How Will I Know” “So Emotional” without understanding a word.  Even though time has changed, however, moments like these remind us all that we need to cherish our loved ones.  Those who brought us joy, peace and hope.

As we are mourning, my heart goes out to her loved ones and family.  The world lost a mother, sister, cousin, daughter, friend and most importantly a wonderful human being.  The words of her songs pierce our souls; her voice gives us chills and perhaps brings tears to our eyes.  Her accomplishment includes 415 Awards, 2 Emmys, 6 Grammys, 22 American Music Awards, and 30 Billboard Awards & sold 170,000,000 Albums.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she became a rare black actor with box office appeal, starring in hits such as “The Bodyguard” and “Waiting to Exhale.” Bishop T.D.  Jakes, produced Houston’s final film project, a re-make of the 1970s release “Sparkle,” said he noticed no signs of substance abuse from Whitney.  He said Houston was a complete professional and moved the cast and crew to tears two months ago when she sang the gospel hymn “Her Eyes on the Sparrow” for a scene in Detroit. “There was no evidence in working with her on ‘Sparkle’ that there was any struggle in her life,” Jakes said Sunday. “She just left a deep impression on everybody.”

Sometimes we make some wrong choices and decisions in life, which is what makes us human.  In John 8, vs.7 “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  In Luke 6, vs.37 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you.  Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.”

Whitney is an iconic figure for those of us who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s.  I wish I had the privilege to meet her in person, but through her music, I was connected to her like a true fan, friend and brother. Thank God for her life, her purpose on this earth, her love for her family.  Her job is done she is now in a new place singing with the angels.

I would like to leave you with the following words from my favorite song of her “One Moment in Time” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m46nvic8VIA

“Each day I live I want to be a day to be, a day to give the best of me.  I am only one, but not alone. My finest day is yet unknown.  I broke my heart, fought every gain.  To taste the sweet I face the pain, I rise and fall. Yet through, it all this much remains.  I live to be the very best I want it all, no time for less.  Have laid the plans; now lay the chance here in my hands”

There will forever be one Whitney Houston and her memory will forever live in all of us.  We will always love you for the beautiful person you were inside and outside.  Thank you for the great memories.  Rest in Heavenly Peace!

A credit score is a number that is assigned to you and this number represents your creditworthiness. Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) created this measure of credit worthiness, and that is why it is called a FICO Score. The number is assigned to you based on your credit report information that is available with three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

How Is A Credit Score Used?

When you apply for any credit (loan, credit card, mortgage, etc.), the lender typically approaches any one of the three major credit bureaus and pulls out your credit information and score. He checks the score to determine if you are worthy of a loan, what interest rate should be charged and what credit limits can be given to you. Many third parties check your credit score and these could include mobile phone companies, insurance companies, property owners, government, etc.

How Can You Get A Credit Score?

To get a FICO score, you must have a financial account running and active for at least 6 months. The three major credit bureaus will latch on to this account and use it for calculating your credit score.

What Is A Good Credit Score?

FICO scores range between 300-850. 300 stands for a poor credit score while 850 means you are close to Warren Buffett. The average American credit score lies between 600 and 700. Anything over 700 is viewed positively and anything under 600 makes you a risky asset.

What Factors Determine Your Credit Score?

Your payment history gets the highest consideration – it makes up 35% of your FICO score. A good, on-time payment history can really boost up the score. Next come your total loan balances, which make up 30% of the FICO score. If you owe more, your score goes down. Your credit history length accounts for 15%. If you have been responsible with your credit for many years, your score bumps up.

New credit is given 10% consideration, and if you keep applying for credit your score will go down. The final 10% is reserved for miscellaneous factors like, are you focused on one particular type of credit, or have you taken loans from all possible sources, etc.

How Can You Fix Your Credit Score?

Your credit score matters a lot. You may be refused loans or given very costly loans if your credit score is below average. Here is how you can fix your credit score:

1. Get a copy of your credit report from all the three major credit bureaus and check for errors or omissions. If you find any, file a dispute with the credit bureau. You must obtain a report from all three bureaus because there is no telling which bureau your prospective lender will approach.

2. Always make payments on time. Late payments influence your credit score and therefore, you must set up appropriate reminders (SMS, calendar) to remind you about your payments. You can also opt for automatic debit so that you are never late.

3. Do your best to reduce your loan. Sell some assets, if possible, and repay your loan. Use your credit card only for necessities. Focus on eliminating higher-interest loans first and then tackle the rest.