Women and children received anti-parasite medication, and also attended a preventative education class.

Operation Blessing International partnered with the World Health Organization to teach recipients the basics of parasite prevention through an illustrated flip chart.

Of those treated, 98 percent of the recipients were women and children.

BELEN, Peru - On June 10, 2006, the "sPill the news" anti-parasite campaign in Peru launched – quite literally – as a team of 11 Operation Blessing staff and volunteers hopped into a wooden canoe loaded with anti-parasite pills.

Pushing off from shore, they made their way down a murky tributary of the Amazon River toward the remote village of Belen.

"Because of extreme poverty, poor sanitary conditions and lack of preventative education, intestinal parasites can be one of the primary causes of death worldwide," said an OBI staff member.

Parasites not only cause physical pain and bleeding, but they also consume 25 percent of a person’s food intake, causing malnutrition and other severe, chronic health problems.

"Doctors and nurses treated villagers at each of the locations," explained OBI staff. "Then we used an educational flip chart on good hygiene to teach recipients about parasite prevention and good nutrition."

Of those treated, 98 percent were women and children.

In addition to Operation Blessing's partnership with local governments and churches, OBI is also working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to launch a long-range initiative to distribute pills every six months for the next three years.

Said one OBI staff member, "Our vision is to continue to do national initiatives in Peru to make a real, lasting medical impact in the areas where they are most desperately needed."

HOW YOU CAN HELP
Be a part of OBI's ongoing medical relief efforts by making an online contribution to help those suffering from extreme poverty and sickness.

 

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