Two epidemiological studies, designed to expand our knowledge of morbidity and mortality indicators concerning malaria and Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccination in the Hospital Albert Schweitzer health district located in Central Haiti's Artibonite Valley, are presented. The hospital serves a rural population of 190,000 in its 610 square mile district. A large proportion of the rural population still relies on traditional healers in times of illness. Consequently, accurate morbidity and mortality data from individuals and communities in the district are scarce. The first study investigated an outbreak of axillary lymphadenitis and abscesses after Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccination among rural Haitian children treated at Hospital Albert Schweitzer from January 1986 through March 1991. Seventy-seven cases of vaccine-related complications were identified, all among children immunized before the age of 1 year. The proportions of children with complications were 0.017% for 1986 through 1989, 0.91% for 1990, and 2.2% for January through March 1991. The probable explanation for the increase is a change in the BCG strain or in the reactogenicity of the Pasteur strain. / Graduation date: 1994