ADOPT-A-VILLAGE Initiative

MEDICO’s Adopt-A-Village Initiative is an expansion of an earlier program in which teams of volunteers visited the same village every year for five years. During that time MEDICO’s efforts were tracked and documented in an effort to measure progress:

• Establishment of a dental fluoride program for school children resulted in fewer cavities and fewer extractions.
  
• Eye exams and distribution of prescription and reading glasses meant that, over time, many patients were returning to the clinic just for checkups.
• Provision of vitamins, parasite meds, improved general health and wellness.
• Health hygiene instruction offered during the team's week of service showed overall improvement in patients' health status.

Clearly, MEDICO—in partnership with pre-selected host organizations—substantially affects the well-being of the village.

During the five years of our initial Adopt-A-Village Initiative, MEDICO also supported the village by providing school supplies and creating a nearby small health clinic with basic medicines to be distributed as needed by a local doctor or nurse. Our current AVI sites include the communities of Las Aradas and Monte Verde, Honduras.  Working in tandem with the local community, MEDICO enhanced already established programs to help create a healthier community.

Dental Fluoride programs

MEDICO established a dental fluoride treatment program in 1991 to provide a preventive dental health program for children in kindergarten through third grade. Each village visited by MEDICO teams receives 15,000 fluoride tablets to be administered by teachers each school day for one year. Many villages have received additional tablets after a year so they can order to continue the program with upcoming classes of children. MEDICO has returned to areas where such programs were started and has found them to be extremely beneficial. This program is implemented in both our Adopt-A-Village sites and standard field team locations.

Water projects

One of the basic necessities for good health is access to clean, consumable water. The remoteness of many of the sites we visit has made us acutely aware of this need. Often water is untreated at its source and delivered by tubing buried in the ground. As the water collects in meager storage tanks, bacteria and nitrates grow, rendering it unsafe for consumption. People who drink this water develop parasites and other chronic gastrointestinal problems which lead to greater health risk. MEDICO assesses the water at many of the villages and communities it serves. We then partner with nonprofit organizations focused on solving these problems, pairing donors and donations with these organizations to bring clean water to the villages.