Tag Archives: Honduras

Better Together: Integrating Immunization and Deworming during World Immunization Week

de-worming, integration, Latin America and the Caribbean,

 

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Beginning tomorrow, global health partners around the world will be celebrating World Immunization Week. While the week’s events primarily focus on achieving equitable access to immunization, the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases is particularly excited about the opportunities World Immunization Week presents for integrating deworming and immunization campaigns.

In Honduras, for example, the Ministry of Health has used World Immunization Week as a platform to deworm hundreds of thousands of children throughout the country.

Read our Honduras case study here: HONDURAS: LEADING THE WAY IN THE AMERICAS THROUGH INTEGRATED EFFORTS TO TREAT NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES (NTDS)

Integrating deworming with immunization campaigns under the umbrella of World Immunization Week is an extremely cost-effective way to prevent many diseases at the same time. By providing deworming medicine alongside immunizations, Honduras is maximizing the impact of its health interventions.

Honduras has also integrated water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices, as well as vitamin A supplementation into World Immunization Week. Since poor WASH contributes to increased intestinal worm infections, and intestinal worms can worsen and intensify malnutrition, integrating these three health interventions is essential for maximizing the health of children.

Honduras’ unique and successfully-integrated approach to fighting intestinal worms should be celebrated and replicated. To learn more about the country’s efforts, read our case study here.

How END7 Support Helps Countries across the World

Africa, Asia, END7, , , , ,

 

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END7 supporters are proving success is possible; they have already helped strengthen neglected tropical disease (NTD) treatment programs in Kenya, Myanmar, Sierra Leone and Honduras. And together, we have plans to support Peru, Vietnam, Nigeria and Indonesia too!

END7 donations go a long way, especially since go directly to NTD treatment programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, the regions with the largest NTD burdens.

This money helps train the community health workers that deliver the NTD medicine to communities, fund educational materials that teach kids how to prevent NTDs, support the delivery of NTD medicine to remote areas, provide clean water to communities and strengthen these country’s abilities to help their own people who suffer daily from NTDs.

These parasitic and bacterial diseases infect 1.4 billion people worldwide, causing unnecessary suffering and trapping families in poverty.

Dedicated partners, including ministries of health and education, governments, regional institutions like the Pan American Health Organization and many NGOs – including the Global Network and its END7 campaign – work hard to support countries around the world that are plagued by NTDs. seventy-four countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America have already developed plans to control and eliminate NTDs. But often these countries lack the money or resources necessary to carry out their plans year after year.

Together, we’re making real progress. Because of the dedicated support of people like you, girls like Pwint Yamone-Thin are healthy, active and free of NTDs; Kids like Neema and Fatuma Kahindi have a brighter future.

See the projects END7 donations supported and the impact they’re are making on the lives of those who needlessly suffer from NTDs.

While we’ve done so much together, we must continue to support those suffering from NTDs. By donating to END7 today, you’ll ensure that more children around the world live happy and healthy lives. Your support means that governments around the world can continue to provide NTD treatment to their most vulnerable populations – and end NTDs once and for all. .

Why More than a Million School Kids in Honduras are Happy without Worms

END7, Latin America and the Caribbean,

 

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When I arrived at Escuela Pedro Nufio, a school in Choluteca, Honduras, I saw hundreds of healthy kids eagerly raising their hands in class, laughing with their teachers and playing outside with their friends.

These kids were happy and healthy thanks to Honduras’ commitment to end neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) – an effort supported by Honduras’ Ministries of Health and Education, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Food Program, several NGOs, and last but not least, hundreds of END7 supporters who made generous donations on behalf of the 2.5 million children suffering from NTDs in Honduras.

See the difference we made together:

In 2012, Honduras became the first country in Latin America to launch a national plan to control and eliminate NTDs. Since then, the country has scaled up its national deworming campaign, and this past year, 1,051,659 children in 11,576 schools were treated for NTDs.

But Honduras’ deworming campaign is about more than just NTD treatment. Access to clean water and sanitation, and NTD education and prevention are also important parts of the country’s integrated program. To answer this need, END7 supporters provided clean water to 100,461 people by purchasing and installing water treatment equipment in the municipalities of Marcovia and El Triunfo. END7 donors also funded the training of school children, teachers, and communities on parasitic worms and the importance of hand washing.

After traveling to Honduras, I felt more optimistic than ever that we CAN control and eliminate NTDs. Honduras is making incredible strides against these diseases – and the health workers and teachers I met there are extremely passionate and committed to ending the suffering of their people.

To reach their end goal, Honduras is moving forward with eight department level operational plans and the training of personnel from each department on NTD control-related activities. However, Honduras still needs support to close their funding gap and reach all children at risk for NTDs.

The kids I met in Choluteca need to be treated annually to remain free of NTDs. 

Honduras: Leading the Way in the Americas through Integrated Efforts to Treat Neglected Tropical Diseases

intestinal parasites, Latin America and the Caribbean, WASH

 

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Honduras is one of Latin America’s leaders in health and integration; their nation-wide effort to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) draws upon the institutionalized infrastructure of the country’s national vaccination week activities, and works across multiple sectors to deworm as many children as possible throughout the country.

Honduras’ unique and successfully-integrated approach to fighting NTDs is highlighted in a recently published success story, Honduras: Leading the Way in the Americas through Integrated Efforts to Treat Neglected Tropical Diseases (click here to read in Spanish).The success story highlights one of the country’s pilot programs which dewormed children aged one – four as part of the country’s vaccination week activities and scaled up to reach all preschool children at-risk, as well as Honduras’ efforts to deworm all school-aged children across the country.

In Honduras, 870,816 preschool children and 2 million school-age children are at risk for soil transmitted helminth infections (also known as intestinal worms). Intestinal worm infections are wide-spread and have a 50 percent prevalence rate in nearly half the country’s municipalities. These infections can cause severe anemia and contribute to pregnancy complications in women and severe malnutrition in children. NTDs also pose a threat to the development for endemic countries like Honduras by trapping the most vulnerable populations in cycles of poverty.

To address the heavy NTD burden within the country, Honduras’ NTD program leverages two platforms: Vaccination Week in the Americas and the Escuelas Saludables program. During Vaccination Week in the Americas, the deworming of children aged one-four occurs alongside a variety of other health interventions like vitamin A supplementation and vaccinations. And concurrently, Honduras’ Ministry of Health works with the Ministry of Education and Social Development, the World Food Programme and others to deworm school children across the country. Just last year, the Global Network partnered with these groups, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Operation Blessing and the MAMA Project to deworm more than one million school children.

And beyond just deworming, Honduras is integrating water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) practices into its NTD prevention efforts. Because NTDs are easily spread by contaminated water sources and a lack of hygiene and sanitation practices, health workers and teachers promote hygiene education among children through the Escuelas Saludables program. Additionally, four safe water systems (hydrochlorinators) were installed in the municipalities of Marcovia and El Triunfo.

Honduras’ deworming program has been successful not only because of its integrated nature, but also because of its political and public support. For example, in 2010 Honduras formed a National NTD Committee, called the Mesa Tecnica, which includes NTD experts from the Ministry of Health, PAHO country office and various other partners including academia and nongovernmental organizations. The Mesa Tecnica has led efforts to map the prevalence of intestinal worms and develop the national NTD plan.

Honduras also has the support of Global Network NTD Special Envoys including Dr. Mirta Roses Periago, former PAHO Director, His Excellency, President Ricardo Lagos Escobar of Chile and His Excellency, President Alvaro Arzú Iriogoyen of Guatemala.

This combination of political and public support, and a well-designed and integrated NTD program have solidified Honduras’ position as a leader in NTD control and elimination efforts in the region. To learn more about Honduras’ efforts and to read the full success story, click here.