What We Do
The Honduran health Alliance is a collaborative of organizations and individuals who work together to promote sustainable development in public health. Program partners currently focus their efforts on an annual women's health education & screening project. This project is geared towards promoting basic education about women's reproductive health. Though planning and collaboration occurs throughout the year, the outreach project takes place annually each July in the southern department of Choluteca, Honduras with member communities of Las Communidades Unidas, a community cooperative. In Honduras, students from the University of North Carolina's Schools of Medicine and Public Health work with local lay health promoters to teach men and women about basic reproductive health issues, nutrition, and sanitation. Under the supervision of preceptors, students also organize and run a screening clinic for community women. Follow-up care is provided by Alliance partners at all levels of the health care system, from community clinics to tertiary care centers.
Students are also working with lay health workers and partner organizations to increase capacity at the local and regional level through workshops and provider trainings by HHA students and physicians.
Partners
- Las Comunidades Unidas
A locally run co-operative of six communities in the Southern department of Choluteca, Honduras. The group originally formed for the purpose of sustainable development in the area of agriculture and local economic viability and now administers several projects aimed at the development of educational opportunities in the region as well as improving access to health care. - ASHONPLAFA
Asociación Hondureño de Planificación Familiar (ASHONPLAFA) is the Honduran affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. With clinics in urban areas and small outposts in more rural parts of the country, ASHONPLAFA is an important resource for Hondurans seeking family planning and reproductive health services as well as general medical care. - Ministerio de Salud
The Honduran Ministry of Health (MoH) is charged with providing health care services to all citizens. In partnering with the MoH, the Alliance helps to overcome some of to the restraints of the current system secondary to funding, geography, and resources in order to ensure that rural Hondurans have access to services. - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
UNC-Chapel Hill is the first public university in the United States and continues to educate students for service in the state and around the world. The Schools of Medicine and Public Health are especially committed to training future leaders who are aware of our global health challenges. In developing an international curriculum opportunity, the Alliance aims to serve the mission of both the Schools in their efforts to train students with the cultural and language competencies necessary to serve local and international populations.
Benefits
Comunidades Unidas: The Alliance provides much needed health education and screening to rural Hondurans who have limited access to health care services and information. It also allows community members to maintain autonomy and voice by working in collaboration to ensure that the project continues to be community driven. Additionally, in training local health educators, the Alliance helps to develop community capacity, and therefore empowers the community with sustainable means to improve its health status.
UNC Medical and Public Health Students: The Alliance offers students an invaluable opportunity to experience health care from an international perspective while also appreciating how cultural differences affect health and well-being. The program provides an intensive, one-month Spanish language experience which will be invaluable upon returning to the growing number of Latino patients in North Carolina. Students also experience the realities of providing service to underserved communities in an international context. Furthermore, students develop leadership and mentoring skills which better equip them for taking an active role in the medicine and public health at a local, national, or international level once their training is complete.