Ensure Families Have Knowledge and Tools to Stay Healthy
Danilo Elvir of El Chol gets tested for chagas by a health expert from Chinda.
When Roy started work in the villages he focused on training people to construct improved stoves that ventilate smoke outdoors and that burn less than a third of the wood required for traditional stoves. Since becoming the Sustainable Villages Honduras Facilitator in April 2022, Fernando Pineda now has become the lead on the health goal. He is focused on helping the health committees take responsibility for their own communities.
Health Committee of Caulotal learning from a health expert from Chinda how to test for the deadly disease chagas.
5 health committees have led clean-up campaigns to eliminate insects responsible for chichengunya, a disease that is often fatal
3 health committees have sponsored Covid-19 gatherings led by Dr. Armando Ordoñez, a recognized as an expert, in both Chinda and the department of Santa Barbara
6 health committees have received training from Idania in how to manage productive meetings and develop annual plans. Other trainings will be held in the newest SVH villages, El Limón and Barrio Nuevo.
Bienvenida Aguilar, El Tule health volunteer, using a nebulizer.
Rene Castro, learning about animal health for the El Chol Health Committee, attends a lesson on remedies for chicken diseases.
Introducing Rene Castro
Born in San Pedro Sula, Rene Antonio Castro Sánchez came to live a small village outside of El Chol, itself very remote. In 2017 neighbors invited him to become part of a group of farmers organized by Roy Lara, the SVH Coordinator. A year later Idania Reyes, the SVH Facilitator from 2018 until 2020, came to El Chol to organize a health committee and Rene was chosen to lead it. Idania led trainings in organizational procedures and developing an annual plan. In some communities she also trained the committee in setting 3-month plans.
Rene is the sole man leading a health committee in Chinda … all others are led by women. From the beginning Rene concentrated on primary health care and on the particular needs of the residents of El Chol. An active health committee was particularly needed because at that point no medical professional had ever visited El Chol. A nebulizer was brought in from the health center near the town of Chinda. When a medical brigade did arrive, children were vaccinated for the first time.
Rene Castro, President of the Health Committee of El Chos, is actively participating in a workshop on natural medicine.
Rene received trainings in natural medicine, cooking healthy food, animal medicine and Covid-19. Under his leadership, the health committee then replicated these trainings in El Chol. Rene’s dedication is evident to the community – he walks an hour each way from his farm to El Chol, arriving in the day and departing in the night.