Suero Oral

One of the projects I've been assigned to work on this month has been to create visual aids for a series of preventive health talks given by the health promoters to mothers of young children in their communities. Last week, the health promoters started giving the talks on how to prevent diarrheal illness, using the laminated visuals I created with markers and crayons. After the talk, the health promoters hold a workshop where they teach the moms how to make their own "suero oral" (oral rehydration solution) to give to their children if and when they have diarrhea (although in this part of Guatemala, it's not a matter of "if," but rather just "when" children here will get sick with diarrheal illness... which is precisely the reason why the promoters are educating communities prevention). It's not unheardof for young children to die of dehydration associated with diarrhea and the vomiting that sometimes accompanies it. In fact, two toddlers in one of the villages outside San Lucas died last week because of severe dehydration cased by diarrheal illness. Of the moms that do understand the importance of hydration during diarrheal illness, most are used to buying suero oral from pharmacies, where a liter of the solution can cost up to 20 Quetzales (a little less than a campesino's day-wage). The recipe that the health promoters teach, however, is home-made, better-tasting, and costs a fraction of the price of commercial suero sold in pharmacies. Here are some pictures I took during one of the workshops given in Quixaya, a village about 20 minutes outside of San Lucas Tolimán.

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"Lavar las manos despues de usar el baño y antes de cocinar o comer" (Wash your hands after using the bathroom and before cooking or eating).

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"Tapar bien los alimentos" (cover your food well). You can imagine the importance of this practice in a place where flies abound and many people don't have access to refrigeration.
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Moms with children under five are invited to these educational talks. And since this is a culture where the words "day care" don't exist, everybody brings their brood.
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Vicente explains the importance of suero oral.

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Dominga is in charge of teaching the recipe: 1 liter of water, 4 Tablespoons of sugar, half a Tablespoon of salt, and a few squeezed oranges for taste.

--- Dominga gets out the salt while Kate strains the seeds out of the freshly-squeezed orange juice.
---Moms and kids look on as Dominga adds the sugar.
---Everybody gets a taste... and the kids love it so much that, in this picture, you can see one little boy trying to steal his brother's cup for more!

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