XII. Health Program

The principal focus of this program is to train the women about the prevention of illnesses and the use of local resources for family nutrition and the healing of illnesses by using natural medicines.

Poverty levels make it impossible to access medial assistance and purchase medicines. In many cases, the sick die from preventable and curable diseases. In addition, if there is a sick person in the family that needs medical attention, the family will sacrifice everything, enduring hunger and other limited necessities, while using their money to consult a doctor or buy medicines, money that was destined to buy corn, or other basic resources for survival.

It is impossible to talk about the quality of life, when one barely earns a poverty level salary. The energy a worker gets from the food he eats is insufficient to perform a good days work since the salary is so low, Q15 (US $2) a day, to be able to buy a proportionate amount of food to eat, not to mention being able to maintain health for quality of life.

1. General Objective

Change the community situation regarding personal, family and environmental heath, to increase the quality of life and persons having good health and actively participating in community and family growth.

2. Specific Objectives

• Train and advise the women in preventative health and environmental hygiene.
• Train women in the proper use of herbal medicines for illnesses from which they suffer.
• Increase family nutrition using local resources.
• Train the women about the prevention of mental illnesses.
• Create a community and family environment that is clean, hygienic and agreeable to the children.

3. Goals

• Annually train and counsel 625 women in 25 communities, in the subjects of Preventive Health and environmental hygiene using a method that permits the analysis of cause, effect and prevention. In five years, we will train 3,125 women.
• Train 625 women in the different techniques of using natural medicine, such as: Selection of Plants, Utilization of herbal medicines in ointments, syrups, capsules, infusions, tinctures, teas and others, Dosages and Prescriptions to cure illnesses, Storing Medicines. We will also encourage each family establish a garden of "medicinal plants".
• Increase family nutrition using local resources such as herbs, vegetables and fruits, training the women in 25 communities about the different ways to cook and prepare them. We will also establish 625 family gardens to guarantee the availability of nutritional fruits and vegetables.

4. Budget