Community Health Worker Program

Dear GlobalGiving Friends and Supporters,

It is my pleasure to bring you this latest update on our public health projects in Lobitos. It has been a busy few months, with progress on our community anaemia monitoring and our efforts to combat dengue, made all the more urgent by the upcoming El Nino season. As always, our medical volunteer interns are continuing to assist and provide care to patients at our local medical post in Lobitos, as well as the hospital in the neighbouring city of Talara.

Cleaning up to fight dengue

As Peru is set to suffer from a record-breaking El Nino season, it’s high time to ramp up our prevention efforts, as our region of Piura has some of the nation’s highest rates of dengue incidence. Although our sandy soils should drain any excess rainwater where mosquitoes could breed, we are increasingly finding that water is pooling in solid waste piles found around the local area, due to the lack of a waste management system. 

Conceived by Dayna Clark, who was one of our medical elective volunteer interns, we implemented a clean-up program in June to address this problem. Focusing on the neighbourhood of Primavera in Lobitos, a hotspot for illegal dumping, our volunteer interns identified priority areas where water pooled most frequently due to the terrain, as well as frequently discarded materials that can hold water, such as plastic bottles and metal cans. Our team then went out to remove and safely discard these items, not only helping to clean up the local environment, but also helping to combat the spread of dengue and other mosquito-born disease in the community. As the El Nino rains loom, we plan to repeat this operation to ensure we are as prepared as possible.

Integrated health campaigns in Sichez

Also in June, we ran an integrated health campaign in Sichez, reaching out to 21 community members to conduct a general health check in the local community centre. We tested for anaemia and diabetes, measured height, weight, and blood pressure, and screened for other health symptoms. We coordinated this campaign with the local medical post in Lobitos, and were delighted to receive positive feedback from the community. As many local people struggle to come into the clinic due to financial and logistical difficulties, we are thrilled to provide a real alternative, and plan to continue similar campaigns in the future. 

Anaemia workshop

Over the past few months, our medical volunteer interns have held several anaemia monitoring workshops with the local community, to help fight the high levels of iron-deficiency anaemia in Lobitos and the surrounding areas, in line with priorities from the Ministry of Health. We test the blood pressure and haemoglobin levels of participants, and distribute fortified iron products such as the Lucky Iron Fish (a cast iron-ingot used to fortify food when cooking), as well as Globitos, a Peruvian cereal fortified with iron. We even conducted a workshop for Lobitos’ youngest residents at the Colegio de Santa Rosa de Lima, for students aged between 3 and 5, ensuring we can spot signs of deficiency as early as possible. 

As part of our holistic approach to fighting iron-deficiency anaemia, we also hand out questionnaires to gauge the usage of our iron supplement products and see how much of an effect they are having. This is a part of an ongoing long-term study, working with 50 families to monitor their haemoglobin levels, and to measure the effectiveness of our public health interventions in the local community. This is particularly important with the upcoming El Nino likely to increase the spread of dengue, a disease which can be particularly serious for anaemic individuals.

As we near the end of the year, we are facing significant public health impacts from the upcoming El Nino weather events, and would be very grateful for any extra support at this acutely challenging time. We have a lot planned – our Public Health Ambassador Dr. Carmen Thompson will be leading another anaemia workshop next month, that will also focus on overall nutrition to tackle anaemia and other public health issues in a holistic way, aimed particularly at mothers and children. This will feature further distribution of iron supplementation products as well as anti-parasite medication. If you can, any donation you make will go a long way in helping us push through these El Nino prevention requirements, and will be hugely appreciated by the whole EcoSwell team at this critical time. 

We are continually grateful for your generous support that makes a real difference to so many lives here in Lobitos and beyond.

With gratitude,

Alejandro Pizarro