Of all the nations in the Western Hemisphere

None faces greater challenges to improve the lives of its children than Haiti. In addition to its poor development indicators, Haiti is the country most affected by HIV/AIDS outside of sub-Saharan Africa, which aggravates the well-being of children whose health is already compromised by poverty and inadequate access to basic health care.

Numbers at a Glance

    * Average life expectancy in Haiti is 52 years.

    * Under-5 mortality rate is 120 per 1,000 live births.

    * Some 3.8 percent of the population is believed to be HIV positive, among them 17,000 children.

    * Some 500,000 girls and boys are out of school and some 300,000 children live in domestic servitude (from WHO)

Haiti is a very mountainous country with more than 3/4ths of the territory being 600 feet and above.

It's climate is tropical and semiarid.

Fertile valleys are interspersed between the mountain ranges forming vast areas of contrast between elevations in many areas throughout the territory.

The country (and Hispaniola) is separated from Cuba by way of the Windward Passage, an 80k wide strait that passes between the two countries.

Haiti's lowest elevation is at sea level (the Caribbean Sea), while its highest point is Pic la Selle at 2,680 m.

Île à Vache (also expressed Île-à-Vaches) (Cow Island) is a small island lying off the south-west peninsula of Haiti near the town of Les Cayes.

Administratively it is part of the Sud Department. It is about 8 miles (13 km) long, 2 miles (3.2 km) wide, with an area of 20 square miles (52 km²).

The western end of Île à Vache island is up to 150 metres (490 ft) high and rolling with several small swamps in the valleys; while the eastern section is swampy, and has a lagoon with one of the largest mangrove forests in Haiti. ^[1] It is one of the most popular tourist sites in Haiti and it has some of the best island scenery in the Caribbean. The population of the island is somewhere between 10,000-15,000 inhabitants.