Wasparani Community Health Center

Third Lens formed a partnership with the community of Wasparani and Predisan (www.predisan.org)  to build a facility that now serves as a licensed health center by the Honduran Ministry of Health. Opened in June 2011, this facility for Predisan medical permanent personnel and visiting teams to provide doctor consultation, specialized care for women’s health and preventative care.  Additionally, the center is used for spiritual, educational and community needs.  The building has 3000 square feet of usable space integrates solar electricity, gray and black water management, and water cistern.

Registered Nurse and Program Director Frank Lopez recently shared saying, this facility has been a critical addition to this rural isolated zone and was licensed by the ministry of health for the first time since primary care health services were initiated in a wooden hut 10 years ago.  Without this new facility, the zone would not have been able to obtain this license and the benefits that come with meeting government regulations for delivering health care services.

Not only have encounters increased, but new patients coming from these remote areas have increased by over 20% to include 93% of the total population reached with basic and essential health services.  With a focus on early childhood development (children under 5 years old), the center sets a goal to see every child during the year to administer public health monitoring, immunization, and consultation.

Children under five years of age represent 17% of the population of this entire zone, a rapidly growing population in the sector of Wasparani.  205 children were programmed to receive these services in 2012, yet 251 children were seen by PREDISAN staff.   This reflects the extensive area migrating towards this community health center from remote jungle regions seeking primary health care services including undocumented families uncounted in the government population census.

Wasparani is located in an isolated region of mountains to the east of Catacamas in the Honduran province of Olancho. The village was in desperate need of a medical facility to serve the growing population and anchor medical services offered through the ministry of PREDISAN which had been serving the region for almost 10 years.