Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Tomalá, Lempira (Agenzia Fides) - A strange disease which deforms the legs and can even lead to paralysis is regarded as “normal” in the town of Lempira, in Honduras. The disease has not yet been identified because the local health authorities have not given attention to the cases registered so far.
The disease affects children as well as adults in El Copante di Tomalá. However this is only part of what it happening in the rural areas where thousands suffer from dire poverty and disease. In rural areas there is an acute shortage of medical staff and medicines and the main causes of infant death are pneumonia, intestinal infections, respiratory diseases as well as malnutrition, and lack of instruction and basic sanitation.
Lempira has a population of 243,971 and one hospital at Gracias, while many other towns have a health-centre but no doctor. In the interior there are no doctors and the health centres are either closed or sporadically assisted by a nurse. The rural areas are served by auxiliary nurses, 5 for every 10,000 people. The bad state of the roads forces the people of towns bordering on Lempira to seek medical care at San Marcos Ocotepeque Hospital and health care centres and hospitals over the border in El Salvador.
According to recent official figures in Honduras in every thousand infants born alive, 34 die within the first year and 45 will die before 2015. The goal is by 2015 to reduce to 11 the average of deaths in every thousand new born babies.
The millennial goal for Honduras is that it reduces infant mortality among children under 5, although this will be difficult in rural areas due to a shortage of doctors and medicine. (AP) (3/9/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:30; Parole:354)
