From a Very Authoritative Source:

“I’m sure you’ve heard enough on the malaria in Mexico vs. Haiti issue, but

I still feel compelled to weigh in, because, well it’s my job.

“Both Mexico and Haiti have endemic malaria. This is hardly surprising

because most of South and Central America also have endemic malaria. There

are a couple of differences between the countries however. The island of

Hispaniola is a bit of an oddity in the Western Hemisphere in that its sole

malaria strain is the far more lethal P. falciparum, while the comparatively

benign P. vivax is generally the main cause of malaria in the rest of the

Americas.

“59% of Haiti’s population lives in moderate/high risk areas vs. 44% of

Mexico’s. Yet when you look at the most recent data (2001) from PAHO [? –

don’t know what this stands for – JD], Haiti has twice as many cases as does

Mexico. Probably because Haiti doesn’t have an active malaria prevention

campaign, but Mexico does.

“That said though, I doubt that health profiling is why Haitians will be

turned away, and if it is, I am certain malaria is not the health concern.

AIDS might be more likely, but someone who is more aware than I of AIDS

distribution in the Americas would have to speak to that.”