Mission Combats AIDS in Honduras

During a recent five-day period in the remote coastal town of Limon, Honduras, 25 health care professionals saw more than 700 patients in an effort to prevent AIDS and other diseases. The Lansing-based team dispensed about 2,500 prescriptions, provided 5,000 condoms, and installed more than a mile of pipe for drinking water.

HIV/AIDS prevention topped the agenda during this trip. Group members plan to return in September 2008 to continue their work on AIDS prevention, medical training, building an orphanage, improving drinking water, and cultivating micro-finance.

Fifteen percent of the Limon-area population has HIV. The medical mission plans to train more than 20 local residents in HIV prevention through peer education.

The medical team also piped in river water to a poor part of the city that is home to 4,000-6,000 people. "They were getting a lot of parasites" from wells and untreated streams, said Dr. Susan Caldwell, a Meridian Township doctor who led the mission. "So we got clean water to 128 of the poorest families in town."

Before leaving for home, the mission loaned a baker $200 so he could build a clay oven. The small loan can be paid off in about a year; that money will be re-invested in other local projects.

Back to other news for July 2007