Sponsor a Child in Honduras

 

Nestled between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, with tropical mountains, warm beaches and friendly people, Honduras is the second poorest nation in Central America. High unemployment and economic disparity have triggered rapid rising crime rates causing instability.

At the same time, the near constant threats of natural disasters from hurricanes to earthquakes make life hard for Hondurans. The country’s geographic terrain and inequities makes it difficult to build roads. Without roads to provide access it is difficult to promote economic, social, political, cultural and educational unity.

Integrated well-being

In remote communities where the nearest clinic is six hours walking downhill on a dirt road, families rely on Traditional Birth Attendants, Health Monitors and Guide Mothers that are volunteers from their own communities. Through these volunteers we teach mothers and families about safe water management, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, proper pre- and post-natal care, nutrition and early stimulation.

The Traditional Birth Attendants guide the mothers through their pregnancy and help them prepare a birth plan. The program has succeeded in increasing the knowledge, attitude and practices of pregnant women and maternal health providers. Maternal and child mortality has decreased by 50 percent from 2006 to 2010 and the delivery rate in health centers has risen from 35 percent to 50 percent.

“Our youth and the rest of the population want there to be peace and security.”

— Francisco, youth reporter

When the child is born, the Health Monitors follow up on the weight and the growth of children under 5. These specially trained men and women provide vital health information to help families protect themselves from a variety of preventable diseases, including malaria and life-threatening diarrhea. Those they find with unhealthy weights are referred to Health Huts for nutritional assistance and further education.

In some communities, women like Lesly from Lepateriquillo in the mountains of Francisco Morazan Department, are lucky enough that their own mothers are Traditional Birth Attendants and Guide mothers, while the Health Monitor lives five houses away. “My mother Dominga referred me to the health center when I was going to labor. She is also a guide mother so she stimulates my daughter and tells me what to feed her” said Lesly.

The Guide Mothers visit the homes to teach the mothers about communication and language, motor skills, cognitive and socio emotional child’s development appropriate for their age. With proper stimulation and health care, children have better academic performance when they enter school.

Child Friendly Learning Environments

The classrooms in many communities have one teacher for many grades creating a lot of learning challenges for the children. The Child Friendly School program seeks to strengthen the education quality of rural area schools by promoting adequate conditions that help increase school coverage and performance of children aged 6 to 14.

The children develop skills and knowledge for life. They participate actively in their learning with the involvement of parents, teachers and community members to create friendly, safe, caring and inclusive learning environments.

Youth Work to Bring Change

A top priority for ChildFund Honduras is providing children and youth with leadership and advocacy skills. The youth then work strategically – often with adult community leaders – to bring about change in their communities.

Sponsor a child in Honduras for lasting change.
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“Our youth and the rest of the population want there to be peace and security. We dream of a safe town free of crime,” said Francisco, a youth reporter working to change the fate of his hometown for the better.

Emergency Response

After Hurricane Mitch nearly disabled the entire country, we created a Risk Management and Disaster Prevention Plan to identify evacuation routes and shelters as well as vulnerable areas.