Today is World TB Day! The World Health Organization uses today as a call to action to stop one of the top infectious disease killers globally.
From the NIH statement on TB Day:
"World TB Day, March 24, marks the day in 1882 when German
microbiologist Robert Koch announced his discovery of the bacterium
that causes tuberculosis (TB). Despite the considerable progress made
since that discovery, TB remains one of the world’s deadliest diseases.
In 2013, an estimated 9 million people became ill with TB, and 1.5
million people died, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
This airborne disease is a leading killer of women and children
worldwide. TB co-infection is the major cause of death among
HIV-infected people killing roughly 1 in 4 who are co-infected. The
growing problems of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively
drug-resistant (XDR) TB further intensify the TB crisis."
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| The theme for this year's TB Day |
Hillside was able to participate in a TB health fair at one of the Polyclinics here in Belize. The day started with a parade as school children marched up to the clinic carrying signs with messages about tuberculosis.
After prayer and introductory speeches, this Mayan couple showed a traditional dance. When their dance was done, the woman gave a speech about having pride in your heritage and upholding tradition. Inspiring!
We were asked to talk about nutrition at our booth. We had lots of little customers learning about how to stay healthy!
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| Our booth with Jimmy (PA student), Angela (CHW), Britt (Hillside nurse), Deirdre, me, and Brennan |
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| Jimmy talking to kids about nutrition |
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| Deirdre teaching! |
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| Britt in action |
It wasn't all work, though. There were games! Hillside was asked to participate - and we pretty much dominated! Jimmy was on the winning tug-of-war team. Britt and I won the egg toss.
And Deirdre won the watermelon eating contest!
It was great to be able to participate! They were kind enough to feed us lunch - caldo, which is a traditional soup. The chicken was really tasty, but Brennan was a little surprised to find a chicken foot in his! Angela (the community health worker) said that it was her son's favorite part of the chicken. None of us were brave enough to try it.
I have a link on this page to Partners in Health - they are a group that has been fighting the fight against TB for a looong time. Check out their website to see their good work!
After prayer and introductory speeches, this Mayan couple showed a traditional dance. When their dance was done, the woman gave a speech about having pride in your heritage and upholding tradition. Inspiring!
We were asked to talk about nutrition at our booth. We had lots of little customers learning about how to stay healthy!
It was great to be able to participate! They were kind enough to feed us lunch - caldo, which is a traditional soup. The chicken was really tasty, but Brennan was a little surprised to find a chicken foot in his! Angela (the community health worker) said that it was her son's favorite part of the chicken. None of us were brave enough to try it.
I have a link on this page to Partners in Health - they are a group that has been fighting the fight against TB for a looong time. Check out their website to see their good work!
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