Better off living in the South?

According to French health care authorities, Saint-Martin now has seven cases of Zika. Their announcement came at the end of last week while their Dutch-side colleagues disclosed their first case.

These reports are the subject of much doubt. How is it that there are seven times more cases in the North of the island? Would it be really more healthy to live in the South? 

These cases are similar to the cases of chikungunya. There were already many more confirmed cases on the French side than on the Dutch side. 

This difference of recording nevertheless has had serious negative consequences. Especially when these figures have been published internationally. In December 2014, some American daily newspapers, including The Boston Globe, published maps indicating the number of cases per island in the Caribbean and, unsurprisingly, the areas with the most cases were located on the French islands. The areas where the health system is the most efficient, which is moreover acknowledged by the English-speaking islands.

They were included in the "more than 10,000 cases" category while bearing in mind that there were less than 4,850 cases on Saint-Martin. By contrast, Sint Maarten was in the "100 to 1000 cases" category.

It looks like we are once again witnessing the same count discrepancy with the Zika virus. So, in a cooperative spirit, it would be a good idea to implement a common method and means to both sides of the island. Why not entrusting this role to the "observatoire régional de santé" (the Regional Health Observatory), whose purpose is precisely to conduct quantitative studies? Let us work together in the fight against Zika!