On Friday we told you about a five year programme to reduce transmissible diseases in the children of southern Belize. We promised a follow up last night - but we have it for you tonight as Jacqueline Godwin examines the dynamics that will affect 54 communities in the south. She reports from the clinic in San Antonio Village.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
The boys and girls were not only offered cultural foods and drinks but the children who are from the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts also received free medical care at the San Antonio Polyclinic Provider. The fair was held to officially launch a Vitamin A and De-worming Campaign that will run for the next five years. It is a collaborative effort by the international sponsors, Vitamin Angel Alliance, UNICEF, PAHO and the Ministry of Health. The goal is to reduce the transmission of diseases in the region that have been affecting especially the children. For the past week health and community workers have been touring the communities conducting mobile clinics at primary schools. According to the health workers the programme will not only target the young.
Ridhwan Adeboye, Pharmacist - San Antonio, Polyclinic Provider
"This programme is supposed to continue for the next five years. The worming in schools, vitamin A for the people and pregnant women will continue for the next five years that is what this programme is all about. We make sure we go into the schools because it is better to get the children together that way. We have to improve their sanitary conditions. After that, we give them, the teachers in schools, worm pills so that everybody will have been de-wormed at the end of the day."
Tony Olson - CEO, SPINS
"It is a long term commitment and so this is the first step, the initial education. We do plan on coming back frequently as well as your own internal health organizations speaking to the issues on an ongoing basis. Really the idea is to take this beyond Vitamin A and de-worming medicine into children's multivitamins, pre-natal care, and into pre-conception care and overall health and wellness."
According to Tony Olson, the Chief Executive Officer of SPINS one of the international sponsors and a market research company for natural and organic foods and supplements the project is more than just supplying medications and vitamins. But educating communities about the importance of having a clean and sanitary environment.
Tony Olson,
"We have been focusing on the vitamin A, the de-worming medicine but the total wellness is more than just the supplementation, it is about sanitation, it is about clean drinking water, it is about washing your hands and things of that nature."
Ridhwan Adeboye,
"As long as the sanitary condition is not improved, they go into the waters to take their baths, we have to improve their sanitary conditions. We have to give them soap. We got a donation of soaps. We have to give them soaps to improve the sanitary conditions."
Tony Olson,
"My company, we're providing the financial resources for the Mayan community and the goal is to continue to build on the program that we've established and eventually we think it will be beyond the Mayan community and to Belize as a whole."
The programme organizers are optimistic that their work will be a success because the children, parents and the communities at large are committed.
Eva Middleton - Administrator, San Antonio PCP
"I have not before seen community participation at its best but here in this rural Toledo, wherever I've worked, mothers fathers alcaldes, chairman, we have many groups. We have a child to child program where children are learning health issues that are pertinent like scabies, worms, asthma, bronchitis and these children come to the clinic, w e give them a one hour session, they make their own posters and they go back to school and teach to their classmates. We also have a healthy mother healthy family group and those women are today learning how to make banana fritters, soy milk and shrimp and they are sharing it with the people present. People are willing to participate."
Tony Olson,
"What we find is when you go into communities the ones where the teachers are engaged, and we're usually presenting at the schools, that when the teachers are brought in, the teachers are engaged in the understanding of the issues and the community tends to be engaged."
To date over eight hundred children have received Vitamin A and De-wormed. The Ministry of Health has stated that the programme will help to contribute to Belize meeting several of the Millennium Goals. For 7News, Jacqueline Godwin.
The Ministry of Health will be the local executing agency and will establish a steering committee for the programme.
