THE ROTARY CLUB OF TOCOA

A Friendly Hand …

 

 

 

 

 


ROTARY INTERNATIONAL

3H GRANT #02-1290

“Malaria Control, Sanitation and EMT Training”

 

Cuadro de texto: HISTORY This Grant is a joint Initiative of the Tocoa Rotary Club with several other Rotary Clubs in the USA, Canada and Honduras. It was conceived after the devastation of Hurricane Mitch to the area of the Rio Aguan Valley, in the Department of Colon, in 1998 and a visit of a group of friends from several Clubs of District 5110 in southern Oregon to our area in September 1999. After a huge amount of time in preparation, discussion trips, field trips, filling out and submission of several forms, drafts submitted to TRF and formal applications completed and turned in by September 2001, the Grant was finally approved by The Board of Trustees of TRF in April 2002 and was ready to start in July of the same year. OBJECTIVE The General objective of this Grant is to support the activities of the Honduras government through the Health Ministry to overcome the high incidence of Malaria fever in the Rio Aguan Valley municipalities. Five municipalities have been selected due to the high incidence of Malaria and lack of sanitation facilities compared to the other ones in the Department of Colon: Sonaguera, Savá, Tocoa; Trujillo and Santa Rosa de Aguan, the first three belong to Health Area 4 and the other two to Health Area 5, comprised in Health Region 6. In fact, this region is the one with the highest rate of Malaria incidence in all Honduras: about 76% of all national cases occur in this region due to the lowland conditions and lack of draining systems in croplands dominantly with African oil palm plantations. The 3H Grant #02-1290 was outlined according to Ten Basic Objectives to help us have a control on each of the problems we are to overcome through the activities of the project: 1. - Reduce infant mortality; with a goal of 50% less in three years. This will be obtained by providing potable water to homes, causing fewer diarrheas, malaria control, sanitary disposal of human waste, disease prevention and health education, etc. 2. - Reduce incidence of malaria and Dengue; with a goal of 70% less in three years. This will be obtained by strengthening the community volunteer malaria system now in use, identifying and reducing breeding habitat for malaria mosquitoes, vector spraying to reduce mosquito numbers, education about the malaria mosquito, etc. 3. - Reduce incidence of Parasitosis; with a goal of 90% less within three years. This will be obtained by providing safe chlorinated drinking water and treating children with anti parasite medication, etc. 4. - Eliminate canine rabies. This will be obtained by having more dogs treated with rabies vaccine utilizing village/barrio health committee assistants; with a goal of 85% treated within three years. 5. - Insure potable safe drinking water for families within the villages and barrios in the Rio Aguan Valley; with a goal of 90% of homes in the area having potable drinking water within three years. This will be obtained by providing chlorinators at each health clinic in the Rio Aguan Valley project area; from which the health committees from each village/barrio can obtain chlorine to place 2-3 times/ week in the water facilities of each home in their community. 6. - Insure sanitation facilities for families within the villages/barrios in the project area; with a goal of at least 85% of homes having access to sanitary facilities within three years. This will be obtained by obtaining materials for and building numerous latrines as requested by village/barrio health committees, etc. 7. - Improve Solid Waste Practices; with a goal of environmentally sound centralized sanitary landfills serving 80% of the project area within three years. Each landfill will have an integrated garbage system for the area served within three years. This will be obtained by having qualified Rotary Volunteer sanitary engineers look at existing sanitary landfills , with suggestions on how to improve existing small landfills or build new ones, plus designing and obtaining equipment for adequate collection and recycling systems, etc. 8. - Provide Emergency medical/CPR/and Disaster Training for village/barrio, Health Committees, emergency personnel, policemen, medical and health professionals; with a goal of 2,000 people trained within three years. This will be obtained by Project Gemini personnel training people at least twice/year in Emergency Medical techniques during the three years of the 3-H Grant. Those trained will then train others in what they have learned in Emergency medicine/disaster drills. 9.- Provide learning opportunities for quality public health education and training for village/barrio members and elected public health officials; with a goal of all of these in the over 108 villages/barrios trained in disease prevention within three years. This will be obtained by keeping these people informed and involved. 10.- Provide a framework which will maximize the efficiency of existing public health institutions, by strengthening the partnership links between village/barrio members in need of public health assistance and the existing institutions which provide theses services; with a goal of every village/barrio in the project area having strong partnership links with existing health agencies within three years. ORGANIZATION The activities outlined in the general budget submitted to TRF for the approval of this Grant are being carried out by a local team hired for such tasks, and this includes: A- Director of the Project B- Accountant/Secretary C- 6 Health Technicians SPONSORS The main sponsors of this project locally and internationally, financially and in kind donations, are the following: A- The Rotary Club of Tocoa B- Several Other Honduras R. C. C- The Five Municipalities benefited D- Health Ministry of Honduras E- The Rotary Foundation of RI F- Rotary District 5110 (DDF Funds + 10 Clubs) G- Rotary District 6670 (Springfield R. C.) H- Rotary District 7910 (Westborough R. C.) I- Rotary District 7070 (Toronto R. C.) J- University of Massachusetts School of Medicine (GEMINI Initiative) K- Living Water Treatment Systems, LWTS L- Rotary World Help Network, RWHN Project (District 5040) M- Medical Equipment Sent Abroad, MESA Project The project is to be funded for three Rotary years through June 2005 and we hope from that point on to reach an agreement with local organizations and governments for the continuing of the activities for ten years in a self sustainable manner. ROTARY INVOLVEMENT There are two committees that oversee the universe of activities involved in this Grant, one is the Local Steering Committee based in Honduras and the other one the International Committee • Local Steering Committee (Members of Tocoa Rotary Club, District 4250 Governor and District 4250 Governor-Elect) • International Committee (Members of all sponsoring Rotary Clubs in the U. S. and Canada) There is also a Local Coordinator of the Project in Honduras and an International Coordinator in Rotary Club of Coos Bay-North Bend, which is the main sponsoring Club in terms of commitment. CONTACTS For more information concerning this Grant, please feel free to contact the local office in Honduras, which is located at: Dra. SANDRA POLANCO Project Director Projecto 3H #02-1290 Sede del Club Rotario Tocoa Bo. Las Flores Tocoa, Colon 32301 Honduras TEL. (504) 444-3527 E-mail: proyecto3h@yahoo.com Or, you may want to contact our International Coordinator at the following address: Michael J. Hosie Coos Bay-North Bend Rotary Club Coos Bay, Oregon, USA Tel (541) 269-2776 E-mail: mlmhosie@coosnet.com
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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