Medical Needs In Honduras

As a family doctor, I did two medical missions in Honduras recently and I soon realized the medical needs are shocking.

The poor quality of water causes also people to have fungal and bacterial infections of the skin. If these go untreated they can become very serious very quickly and many medical teams that visit are quite alarmed by what they see. One story nearly brought the volunteer to tears when discussing what she had seen;

"I saw a woman who had a very bad leg ulcer and her feet were turning black. She would need amputation if she did not get antibiotics by her veins. We explained everything to her and although she understood everything, she said 'I need to go back to my children and take care of them.' She went out back put her shoes on and headed back home."

Most of the rural Honduras women complain of headaches, neck and back pains but if you look at their lifestyle, they walk for hours with the babies on their back to get from one point to the other. The biggest family was one which had 13 children noted one medical mission volunteer. Without adequate transportation the problems are worsened. Make no mistake these are good people, caring folks and those needing assistance are;

"…for the most part gentle, quiet, generous, gracious and grateful. The children are beautiful, well-behaved, loving and respectful. These children are the hope of Honduras"

This message appears on The Austin Episcopal Church Honduras Mission website. What a wonderful job that they are doing in Honduras. When medical mission teams go into Honduras what sorts of illnesses do they encounter? Well, indeed the list of medical needs of the rural poor in Honduras is very large. The Austin Episcopal Church Honduras Mission explains on their website of their herculean efforts; both serious and non-serious needs. Many non-serious needs are such things as;

Minor Illnesses
Simple Coughs
Viral Upper Respiratory Illnesses
Simple Intestinal Viral Infections

These occurred in nearly three-quarters of the people they saw. One medical mission team reports using over 40 gallons of cough medicine; cough syrup. Many of these medical missions go in loaded for bear and the lists of medicine gifts are of biblical proportions for instance one team reported dispensing;

100,000 Tablets of Generic Tylenol
4,000 Bars of Soap
100,000 Vitamins
3200 Toothbrushes w/Toothpaste
31,000 Doses of Mebendazole for intestinal parasites
450 Bottles of Lindane for head lice and scabies

Most of the rural Hondurans who show up for the medical clinic tours have multiple health issues or concerns. The same medical team noted that about 4% of the folks had Hypertension. Around 20% had Arthritis. Asthma did not discriminate by age, as it was 5% across the board with patients of all ages.

Intestinal parasites were quite common amongst all ages; each time they found this they went ahead and played it safe treating the whole family. Skin problems, fungus infections and allergic reactions were found in 10% of the patients, with 12 serious wound infections (cellulitis). Also 12 sexually transmitted disease cases were discovered on their particular medical team mission.

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

For more information now go to: www.mymedicalmissions.com or www.drnathaliefiset.com I want to acknowledge that this article is the result of a joint effort with writer Lance Winslow.

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