B.F.L.A. takes programs to villages
The Belize Family Life Association, which is well known in Belize City for providing information and reproductive health services, is working with the Ministry of Health to take their programs into rural communities. Today community leaders from three districts met at the Radisson Fort George to look at the areas which need the most attention and how these problems will be addressed.
Belizaro Williams, San Felipe Village
“The problem in San Felipe is that they need more information so that they could know what that exactly is and they need to improve the rural health system.”
The poor state of medical facilities in rural areas has become another fact of life. However, as the number of sexually transmitted diseases and cancer cases continue to grow it is a fact we cannot continue to ignore. Today the Belize Family Life Association made an attempt to relieve some of that strain. Forty community leaders from the Belize, Orange Walk and Cayo Districts met to create an effective method of educating villagers about sexual and reproductive health. A wide range of topics from how AIDS is transmitted to basic information on raising healthy children will be covered.
Jewel Quallo-Rosberg, Director, B.F.L.A.
“Our belief is that people have choices and people need to have information in order to make informed choices. One of the ways we have determined is a good way to go is through community health workers who are based in their villages making contacts with them, networking with them, sharing information with them, training them, kind of getting them involved.”
But although there has been criticism that the needs of those in the villages cannot be met by one or two community health workers, according to the Ministry of Health their plans for health reform will still focus on community centers, but with improved service.
Anthony Nicasio, Ministry of Health
“Within the health reform, there are plans that they are going to expand the type of services provided by the health centers to a certain level, to at least a medical practitioner will be made available.”
Even then, the medical practitioner will only be available on a visiting basis and in emergencies, villagers will still have to travel to larger towns for medical attention. Janelle Chanona for News Five.
According to B.F.L.A., UNICEF will be holding similar workshops for community leaders in the southern districts.
