Nutrition and Health
FUNDAMARCOS- Salud
Guatemala

NEW!- FUNDAMARCOS's Dental Hygiene Program

2010 Health Program Highlights:

• Women's groups in 8 villages, averaging at least 20 members each, have large group vegetable gardens, and great numbers of women in all the program's targeted villages are growing vegetables in home gardens. The group gardens are especially useful for teaching the women how to grow various vegetables.
• Cooking classes were given using the vegetables the women have grown, often in ways new to the group. Good hygiene practices are emphasized during the cooking classes.
• The program staff gave continued guidance for 88 women who had begun improved chicken projects during the last 3 years and gave courses on chicken raising and management to all the organized woman's groups.
• FUNDAMARCOS continues to coordinate with government immunization workers who provide vaccinations for children and pregnant women and rabies vaccinations for dogs. Local people have confidence in the staff and this promotes participation in vaccination programs.

Program History

In 2005, FUNDAMARCOS,began developing a nutrition and health component to supplement its already successful agricultural program in Baja Vera Paz. The Program hired local health promoters who worked together with local women leaders and the exiting agricultural leaders to create a unique coordination of efforts towards between the agriculture program and the work in nutrition and health.

In 2008, the FUNDAMARCOS Primary Health Care Program emphasized on hand-washing for the prevention of disease and the preparation of herbal medicines for some of the most common but less serious health problems.

In 2009 the program emphasized vegetable gardens with the women. In addition it promoted improved nutrition, vaccinations for children and pregnant women, and good general hygiene. During this time, the FUNDAMARCOS Health Program helped 4 women's groups and schools in 5 communities to develop large vegetable gardens. The FUNDAMARCOS staff and the school teachers helped the students with the following activities:

• Preparation of raised beds
• Organic fertilization (The children bring fertilizer from home and some additional fertilizer is provided by the program)
• Planting the seeds
• Irrigation when necessary
• Thinning excessive plants - which are usually taken for planting at home
• Weeding
• Harvesting
• Learning about the nutritional value of vegetables
• Making salads or cooking the vegetables and then enjoying eating what they have prepared

When the government health workers are going to arrive in the program area to provide vaccinations for children and pregnant women, rabies vaccinations for dogs. or parasite medicine for children, FUNDAMARCOS gets the word out to mothers and midwives of the date of their arrival and promotes participation. This is very important for community acceptance of these programs because of the confidence that the local people have in the staff. Without the program's participation, the people would not know when the government health service people were coming and far fewer would even want to participate.