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What is GUAMAP?
GUAMAP sends Spanish-speaking acupuncturists and other health care volunteers equipped with a full range of medicines, needles, teaching tools and treatment supplies to selected villages in northern Guatemala. Local trainers of health promoters integrate GUAMAP´s acupuncture training course into an ongoing health care curriculum. GUAMAP also sends shipments of medicines and specialized supplies requested by health promoter representatives for various community health projects.
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Dear Guatemala Acupuncture Project Supporters and Friends
YOUR YEAR END SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED
The year 2011 has been severely challenging for Petén Department in Guatemala, where the Guatemala Acupuncture and Medical Aid Project concentrates its health care training. Thousands of residents lost their homes, furnishings, crops and possessions as a result of devastating floods in the region. Dr. Edna Calderon, director of the Asociacion de Servicios Comunitarios de Salud/Association of Community Health Services (ASECSA) reported to GUAMAP.
FLOODING AFFECTS COMMUNITY HEALTH AND WELL- BEING
Seven communities in the Sayaxche region in the Department of Petén, Guatemala, residing along the tributaries of the Salinas River, were affected by torrential rains that caused severe flooding in the first half of October due to tropical storm Ofelia. Members of ASECSA-PETEN accompanied the auxiliary mayor and the president of a local aid group to assess damages in the communities of Santo Domingo, Santa Elena, and Roto Viejo, interviewing community leaders, mothers, and agricultural workers. They learned that severe flooding damaged 277 acres and destroyed 502,128 lbs. of corn in the Santa Elena community. In Roto Viejo, families lost 427,500 lbs. of corn crop alone, plus plantains and bananas, destroying the food security of families over the succeeding six months.
This natural disaster affected the health and the economic well being of families,, forcing heads of household to sell all their undamaged corn to middlemen at less than 1/3 of the normal market value! Even worse, families had to pay extra money they didn't have in cash just to transport the corn by heavy motorized boats, because strong river currents made the communities inaccessible by any but 4-wheel drive vehicles.
At first, flooding devastated the agricultural fields planted close to the rivers and then currents reached higher ground to flood homes, animal corrals, community schools, water wells, and latrines. The filthy water contaminated everything in its wake; affecting adults, the aged and especially children under ten years old. Diarrhea, respiratory infections, and cutaneous mycoses (skin rashes) are rampant in the region, with incidences of cholera and malaria increasing. Water accumulation, the flooding of latrines and wells, loss of drinking water supplies and the deaths of work animals have produced widely spread contamination. Contaminated water in the communities has appeared, accompanied by mosquitoes, flies, parasites, skin infections and fungus. Pervasive cold and the inadequate living conditions for most rural Peten families, with wood stoves located inside dwellings, affects the respiratory functioning of young children and the aged.
DONATE NOW!
Acupuncture can reduce or eliminate the effects of skin conditions, respiratory infections and diarrhea that impact so many people in the region. As 2011 draws to a close, your contribution to the continued work of the Guatemala Acupuncture and Medical Aid Project will provide desperately needed supplies and acupuncture needles to help maintain adequate health conditions for the poorest of rural families living far from regional health clinics.
Your check or contribution will make a difference NOW. By mail: Send your generous donation, made out to GUAMAP, to GUAMAP, POB 85371, Tucson, AZ 85754 Online: Click on DONATE to contribute via PayPal or Google Checkout. You will receive an acknowledgment of your donation. Remember your donation may be tax deductible! GUAMAP is a 501(C)3 non-profit.$100 pays the daily cost of one health promoter to attend acupuncture training at the training center in Poptun for one week, including transportation to and from the home village. $75 pays for transportation from rural areas for a group of health promoter. $50 will pay for the supplies for a public clinic.
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News and Announcements Archive
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Coordinating Committee
The Coordinating Committee plans and implements acupuncture trainings and supports community based monitoring. To read more, see: Programs
Acupuncture Working Group(AWG)
The AWG designs, implements, and revises GUAMAP's acupuncture curriculum subject to board approval. To read more, see: Acupuncture Working Group
Partner NGOs
Since 2001, GUAMAP has collaborated with the Associon de Servicios Comunitarios de Salud (ASECSA) Peten Office in San Francisco, Peten, and the Programa de Promcion de Salud of Centro Kerigma - Quetzal in Poptun, Peten,Guatemala. To read more: see Partner NGO's
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Training Trainings are held twice annually in May and September or October. A training level includes two week long courses with three monitorings between trainings... To read more, see: TrainingMonitoring Monitorings are carried out by trained Guatemalan acupunturists with 7- 12 years experience in practice. Day long exchanges of patient record reviews, with discussions of DX and TX. To read more, see: MonitoringEducation GUAMAP carries our education in the United States about our training model and the results of popular clinics carried out by more than 20 Guatemalan acupuncturists. Formal presentations of our work were presented to APHA ... To read more, see: Education |
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GUAMAP © 2013
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