Progressio development worker Karina writes:
In the past few days we've been working with some Peace Corps volunteers constructing ecological stoves and solar ovens with some basic materials. For the solar oven the volunteers showed us a simple construction made of cardboard, aluminum foil and oven bags. It's fantastic, so simple, cheap and still effective.
Perfect bread
While we were constructing the ovens together with the volunteers and the women from the community of Loma de Cabrera, some of the women prepared corn bread and baked it on one of the new solar ovens. It worked perfectly and the bread was delicious.
Tackling malnutrition
We also supported the health campaign of a mobile health unit in Cruz de Cabrera that targeted vulnerable families we identified previously together with our trained promotors. The level of malnutrition of children is serious, in particular due to a lack in of vitamins and milk, and there are also several anaemic pregnant women.
It's urgent to intervene in this area and we managed to get support from the Ministry of Health for some workshops in preventive health for women and families of this community. But that's still not enough, there is a need to analyze levels of parasitosis and anaemia and to address these problems.
Long-term solutions
For more long-term solutions we are working on a proposal with Asomelin - the local association of migrants - for the creation of a Training Center for preventive health, where families with undernourished children or children at risk can be supported and accompanied over a longer period. Asomilin is looking to involve doctors from Santiago (major city in the Northern area) and mobile health units that can periodically make visits and follow-ups.
It's important to address these problems as soon as possible, as especially migrants in DR have almost no access to health care, and migrant families are considered the most vulnerable.
Photo: Karina Cuba (right) with farmer and health promoter Milagros Gomez in Loma de Cabrera (photo © Fran Afonso/Progressio)
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