Read More About Honduras:
Emergency Response and Disaster Relief
AmeriCares has a long history of responding to natural disasters in Honduras in partnership with the Honduran Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Most recently, AmeriCares sent an emergency airlift to Honduras in November 2008 in response to the heavy rains affecting the entire country, which displaced tens of thousands of people. This air shipment was valued at over $1 million and contained important medicines and medical supplies. The delivery helped people suffering from infections, asthma, pneumonia, gastrointestinal (GI) diseases and other illnesses.
In September 2007 Hurricane Felix made landfall on Honduras' Mosquito Coast as a Category 5 storm, blowing 160 mph winds. AmeriCares airlifted 4,784 pounds of essential medicines, including antibiotics, valued at $1.3 million to help those affected. In other instances, AmeriCares responded to ongoing health needs on the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and Hurricane Stan in 2005.
Medical and Humanitarian Aid
AmeriCares has been working in Honduras since 1986 and has delivered more than $330 million worth of emergency and ongoing medical aid, including $27.1 million in the past year.
AmeriCares delivers medicines and medical supplies to more than 150 health and social service institutions throughout the country including hospitals, clinics, AIDS hospices, nursing homes, nutritional centers, domestic abuse help centers, alcohol and drug rehabilitation centers, and children's homes. Medicines are distributed through the urban centers as well as rural areas throughout the country, where 60% of the population lacks access to essential medicines, according to the WHO.
Among the many hospitals receiving our support through the Honduran Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, are two of our largest and longest-standing beneficiaries Hospital Torax and Hospital San Felipe. AmeriCares donations of items such as antibiotics, heart medicines and hospital supplies help these facilities to extend diagnosis, treatment and disease management to poor patients.
Originally a Tuberculosis hospital, Hospital Torax is a 211-bed facility located in the capital Tegucigalpa, which now specializes in the treatment and care of patients living with HIV/AIDS, heat disease and breathing problems. Hospital Torax is the only advanced care facility of its kind in Honduras.
Hospital San Felipe is a 409-bed center that offers a wide range of speciality services including ophthalmology, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, oncology and physical rehabilitation, and is also home to a national diabetes center. The hospital fields more than 1,000 patient visits per day with individuals arriving from all regions of the country. The diabetes center focuses not only on medical treatment for diabetes but also patient education and preventive care.
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