Decolonization of Global Health in Haiti: A Call for Equity, Partnerships, Scholarship, and Informed Action

Haiti’s current global health research architecture, led and implemented by foreigners far removed from Haiti, demonstrates the sector’s “non-global” nature. Decolonization in Haiti must start by addressing the vast inequities that comprise this structure. Global health work in Haiti is underpinned by structural racism and power hierarchies that perpetuate numerous inequities. In Haiti, many studies have been conducted by individuals from foreign research teams during periods of public health crises while giving few opportunities for Haitian community organizations to collaborate and participate in these interventions and failing to acknowledge the critical role of these organizations in facilitating their research. Global health research can be likened to a form of plunder, whereby those who are already powerful (e.g., researchers from high-income countries) are strengthened, while those located outside the reach of power (e.g., individuals and communities in low- and middle-income countries) are decimated. The successful decolonization of global health research in Haiti necessitates providing Haitian scholars with increased support and funding, more opportunities for training support and education, equitable partnerships and inclusion in research endeavors, and promotion in the development of research and publications from that research.