First Aid Training for Shipibo Healers

Hello kind folks who have helped us make First Aid Training for Shipibo Healers a possibility!

We are writing with a brief update. We recently completed a second round of training, where we traveled downriver to a small city called Contamana to receive participants from various Shipibo communities/villages. This time we were able to contract 3 nurses to teach two courses in the Shipibo language, which is an incredibly special thing to have happen. We certified 37 people in Basic First Aid and 40 people in Injection Techniques.

Thanks to complementary support from an institutional funding partner, we are able to commit to completing another round of training where we will travel up-river to deliver the same two courses to up to 50 participants in that region. We will also be able to offer Injection Therapy training here in the city, where we had completed the First Aid course with 33 people in November, and who have been patiently waiting to complete a next step. We will also be collaborating with a couple of local organizations working in health to offer the trainings to their members and staff.

We had to change First Aid Course providers, as the Red Cross of Peru was not able to meet our needs or expectations for ongoing collaboration. This time we worked with an institute in Colombia, who are able to grant internationally valid First Aid certification based on material as taught by the Red Cross of Spain. For Injection Techniques, we worked directly with the nurses on our team to develop a course that meets the needs of village members, and created our own certification, signed by our president, the president of the regional Federation of Native Communities, and the Director of the Ministry Health in the region. We are proud of our offerings and the participants expressed a lo of excitement and gratitude to have learned these life-saving techniques.

We have suffcient funding to offer the next rounds of these courses; however, the prices of gas and food, like everywhere, has gone up, and any further donations you send to us will be used to complement those increases in cost. We are also developing a full curriculum in modern medicine, to be taught in the Shipibo language, and offered to traditional healers and community health promoters to complement their alread-existing knowledge. Extra funds that go above and beyond needs of the First Aid and Injection Therapy training will be rolled into this program.

Thanks to each of you for your ongoing support and interest in the health of the Shipibo people, and in our work that we do to support that in whatever little way we can. As mentioned in the overview of the project, of the 176 Shipibo villages, only 30-40% of them have health posts, and when there are health emergencies people need to travel, sometimes far, to seek help. Sometimes they do not reach their destination. Our work is part of a long-term solution to address this situation, and have health posts in every community, that are stocked with necessary medications, staffed by people trained in their applications, and integrated with traditional knowledge systems.

Thank you!
The Oni Xobo Team