Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Fighting Chagas Disease

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Jul 7 2008 (IPS) - Honduras is working with Canada to put together 60 million dollars in funding for ecological and health projects in areas where Chagas disease is endemic. The illness has spread from rural areas to urban areas of the capital. Of that sum, which is expected to be delivered by year end, 18 million would be earmarked for fighting the disease, and the rest for educational activities for environmental conservation, as well as environmentally friendly productive projects, Karen Zelaya, head of the Technical Secretariat for Cooperation, told Tierramérica.

She said education is important in the regions where Chagas has expanded due to causes linked to poverty, hygiene and homes made of mud and straw, in which the disease-spreading Triatoma infestans insect lays its eggs.

There are some 300,000 people affected by the disease in Honduras, particularly in the south and west.