Program 1 Report: Quality of Life & Well-being

The World Health Organization (WHO) Quality of Life Group developed a description of 'quality of life,' and it conceptualizes that quality of life is an individual's perception of his or her position in life in the context of the culture and value systems. It also depends on his or her goals, expectations, standards, and concerns. This is an inclusive and broad description of well-being encompassing social indicators, happiness, and health status. It also captures positive aspects of coping, resilience, satisfaction, and autonomy, among other issues. A United Nations resolution in 2011 stated: '..the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal'. It also stresses that 'the gross domestic product indicator by its nature was not designed to and did not adequately reflect the happiness and well-being of people in a country.' With all the economic development and the growth of the tourism industry, Aruba's social context has changed over time. The exponential growth of migrants and visitors to Aruba, resulted in significant changes in the society, bringing with it tremendous stress on the community. This growth in our population, because of the influx of people with different cultural customs and values, required rapid and more development of infrastructure, buildings, and consequently the destructive impact hereof on our nature and environment. In recent years, the government concluded that Aruba is experiencing a social crisis. There seems to be a decrease in mortality and responsibility at all levels of society, an increase of inhabitants living under marginalized conditions due to unemployment and cheap labor. It was also determined that there is a weakening of the social network of family that parents traditionally relied on to serve as a united front to instill good norms and values in their children. The reinforcement of this network should be one of the crucial elements in combatting the social crisis.

Integrated Management Strategy for Dengue Prevention and Control on Aruba. IMS-Dengue Aruba

[Introduction]. Dengue is the most important mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. Repeated epidemics of dengue and severe dengue affect millions of individuals each year in tropical and subtropical areas of the world, including Central and South America and the Caribbean. Following the end of the Aedes aegypti eradication campaign in the 1960s for the control of Yellow Fever the efforts to control this vector were not maintained. As a result all areas that were formerly free of this vector were re-infested, which permitted the introduction and spread of Dengue when it was reintroduced into the region in the 1970’s (PAHO 1997). Over the last 35 years dengue fever has spread throughout the Caribbean and Latin America with cyclical outbreaks (Figure 1). The last major outbreak occurred in 2010 with 1,662,296 cases reported and 1,193 deaths...