Region

Central America

Honduras: The Cost of Care

After speaking with the mayor of Santa Lucia and several locals about Shoulder to Shoulder, it is evident that mis-communication between the locals and the non-profit has caused recent strife in the community.

Shoulder to Shoulder currently operates seven clinics throughout the southern region of Intibuca, six of which are primary health centers owned by the Honduran government. These centers run under the government's standardized healthcare system and charge five lempira per visit, the equivalent of 25 cents.

Honduras: Reporting amidst a military coup

Tracy Boyer, Pulitzer Student FellowPosadas_candy Karla Patricia Posadas, 10, visits a local store after an exam to buy some candy with her friends.Working in the midst of a military coup brings unexpected hardships. The Honduran government has shut off power across the entire country on numerous occasions, trying to squelch any outgoing or incoming information on Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president. One power outage lasted nearly 24 hours, preceded by a series of five brief outages. Interestingly enough, as I sit here and write this, the power has once again been shut off.Earlier in the week, I observed patients at Shoulder to Shoulder's dental clinic. Doctor Belkis Lorena Mejia Milla consulted with two younger patients who both needed teeth pulled due to their sugary diet and poor hygiene. Brayan Noel Garcia Amaya, 6, had his decayed front tooth pulled, leaving a gaping hole next to another rotting tooth. Wendi Yulisa Amaya, 7, had a cavity filled on one tooth, and a molar removed due to decay. This was clearly not her first visit to the dentist, as multiple other silver fillings covered the majority of her teeth.Afterward, Milla showed me a pamphlet that they show their patients, with pictures of fruit circled in red, and pictures of candy crossed out in black. She said that no matter what they advise their patients, the children will only buy candy with the few lempira that their parents give them to spend during their breaks at school."Eating too much candy and not brushing their teeth cause the majority of the cases I see," she said.

Honduras: Reporting Amidst A Military Coup

Working in the midst of a military coup brings unexpected hardships. The Honduran government has shut off power across the entire country on numerous occasions, trying to squelch any outgoing or incoming information on Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president. One power outage lasted nearly 24 hours, preceded by a series of five brief outages. Interestingly enough, as I sit here and write this, the power has once again been shut off.

Honduras: What's in the water?

Girls_water_well Three young girls from the rural village of El Carmen drink water
straight from the water well, after consulting with the doctor about
various ailments.
Tracy Boyer, Pulitzer Student FellowFriday morning I headed out early with a team of health professionals to observe a community clinic. Many places are so rural in this part of Honduras that people rely on Shoulder to Shoulder health workers to travel to them every three months or so and set up makeshift clinics in schools and churches.Six of us drove in a beat-up Toyota truck for several hours deeper into the mountains of Honduras. Herds of cows blocked our path, their ribs visible through their dirty coats. Flocks of turkeys and random stray dogs ran alongside our car as it bumped and twisted around the countryside.Women would begin walking with their sick children until our car passed. The mothers would then hand off their infants to the nurses and me in the back seat before jumping in the bed of the truck. At one point, we had 17 health professionals, worried mothers, sick children and other hitchhikers in our crowded five-person truck. Once we arrived, nurses began passing out multivitamins, albendazole for parasites and dextromethorphan for cough. Diarrhea and respiratory infections continue to be a major issue both in the medical clinic and in the field - the two major signs of malnutrition.

Honduras: What's in the Water?

Friday morning I headed out early with a team of health professionals to observe a community clinic. Many places are so rural in this part of Honduras that people rely on Shoulder to Shoulder health workers to travel to them every three months or so and set up makeshift clinics in schools and churches.

Honduras: Not so sweet

Soft_drink A local mother gives her child a sugary soft drink while
waiting for researchers to assess her child's nutritional and cognitive
levels.
Tracy Boyer, Pulitzer Student FellowSanta Lucia is hidden deep in the mountain range of southwestern Honduras. I traveled for eight hours by car from the San Pedro Sula airport to Santa Lucia, a tiny community in the remote region of Intibuca. The gravel road hugged the mountainous terrain as we weaved up, around, and down. Pot holes and washed-out areas from torrential rains created a nearly impassable road. The recent 7.2 earthquake that struck Honduras crumbled many of the bridges, leaving only holes in its wake. I soon realized that the lack of infrastructure disconnects these residents from simple necessities in life, including modern healthcare and nutritional needs. The residents rely primarily on the land for a substantive living, complemented with sugary soft drinks and packaged sweets trucked in from San Pedro Sula or Tegucigalpa. Due to lack of education, mothers give their children these products, sometimes even putting soft drinks in the baby's bottle. A tradition in the area that is of growing concern is the practice of giving young children coffee. Families enjoy coffee together on a daily basis, and include their children in this tradition. However, children's organs are not sufficiently developed for these acidity levels, and infants do not have an adequate immune defense to handle the water used in making coffee. As a result, there is a high prevalence of diarrhea in young infants throughout the region.

Honduras: Not So Sweet

Santa Lucia is hidden deep in the mountain range of southwestern Honduras. I traveled for eight hours by car from the San Pedro Sula airport to Santa Lucia, a tiny community in the remote region of Intibuca. The gravel road hugged the mountainous terrain as we weaved up, around, and down. Pot holes and washed-out areas from torrential rains created a nearly impassable road. The recent 7.2 earthquake that struck Honduras crumbled many of the bridges, leaving only holes in its wake.

Guatemala: A Divided Country's Hidden Hunger

The little girl does not smile. She doesn't have the energy. Hopefully she will soon.

She is in a rehabilitation clinic in Jocotan, Chiquimula, a province in the far east of Guatemala, near to Honduras. Her name is Domitila, she is nine years old. Her body is emaciated, she is fragile. Patches of her hair are missing, the veins in her legs show through her skin. Her face has a perpetual look of sorrow – the muscles are too weak to change expression. Other children in her family were in similar shape, the nurse tells me.