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The O'Dea Family Returns to the States Shoulder to Shoulder would like to extend a very grateful and heartfelt thanks to Drs. James and Christy O'Dea who have given 2 years of their lives to serve the poor in Intibuca, Honduras. Along with their 3 children, Marin, Maura and Jack, they have contributed their talents, resources and time in a myriad of various programs in addition to their medical contributions. We would also like to thank all of their very loyal and generous friends and family who have made their stay in Honduras possible by their monetary contributions as well as their friendship and encouragement. We are happy to have them back in the States but they are already greatly missed by the many |
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Amazon.com Makes it Easy to Shop and Give Some of you may have noticed and even already used the Amazon.com link on our website www.shouldertoshoulder.org. There’s nothing special that you need to do: just access Amazon.com through that link at the bottom of the first page and make your usual purchases. In exchange, Amazon.com will donate 4% of your total purchase back to Shoulder to Shoulder. With the holidays approaching, just image the contribution we can make, just by taking this simple step. Try it, it costs you nothing! |
Another Special Thanks… To all of you who took the time to click on Search Kindly and/or to fill out the coffee survey! We appreciate that you are all busy but these little things make such a difference for us. Know that your efforts are appreciated. We are close to selling Shoulder to Shoulder brand of Honduran coffee that will be free trade. We are working feverishly to have it available for the Christmas giving season. Stay tuned. |
Shoulder to Shoulder, the Mathile Institute for the Advancement of Human Nutrition and the University of North Carolina School of Public Health Partner to Combat the Devastating Effects of Malnutrition in Children Under Five Shoulder to Shoulder and other multinational nutrition organizations have had grave concerns about malnutrition in rural children, the most vulnerable of the population. Malnutrition in these age groups results in permanent growth stunting and permanent cognitive impairment. Government and large multinational programs have been unable to assist this younger population due the lack of guiding research and infrastructure. Priority for reaching this under five age group was established at the United Nations Millennium summit in 2000 where representatives from 189 countries set the goal of reducing the prevalence of underweight children by half by the year 2015. i Under five feeding programs are almost non-existent due to: 1) difficulty in developing a distribution system that can reach younger children who are not yet in school. This obstacle is even more challenging in isolated mountainous communities with no community infrastructure. 2) lack of formative research |
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Shoulder to Shoulder has created successful community based organizations in some of the most remote and poverty stricken regions of Honduras. Together with the internationally recognized expertise of the University of North Carolina School of Public Health and the Mathile Institute, we propose to address each of these issues with a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative project that will develop an evidence based approach and reproducible and sustainable protocol for establishing under five feeding programs in Intibuca. Greg Reinhart, PhD and Vice President of Research & Nutrition for the Mathile Institute and also new Shoulder to Shoulder board member anticipates a long term relationship between Shoulder to Shoulder and the Institute. During the first year of this project, we will conduct a careful qualitative evaluation of the most acceptable and sustainable food products and feed children under two in three large rural municipalities (Santa Lucia, San Antonio and Magdalena). We will also compare the effectiveness of a peanut butter based food supplement for children under two with traditional foods. We will then extend the project’s demographic and investigative scope in years 2 and 3. By year four we propose establishing a Center for Childhood Nutrition in Concepcion that will serve as a research and training center for all of Honduras and beyond. |
Why nutrition is so important: In 2003, the World Health Organization produced a series of articles focusing on Child Survival in the developing world.ii The shocking conclusions were that of the 11 million children under five who die each year, simple interventions exist to prevent 6 million of these deaths. Most of these children die of respiratory illness, diarrhea, malaria and measles. The majority of these deaths can be prevented with very simple measures. Sixty percent of these deaths are linked to malnutrition and vitamin deficiency. Studies have shown that by supplementing zinc, vitamin A and iron into the diets of children, deaths due to diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, and measles can easily be prevented. These interventions not only reduce mortality, they increase the success of children in school, decrease blindness and prevent irreversible mental retardation. Unfortunately, even though we have the knowledge of how to help, reaching the poorest children and children living in rural areas, who are most at risk, remains the greatest challenge. Because of its network of communities and community organizations Shoulder to Shoulder effectively reaches some of the most isolated and poverty stricken communities on a regular basis and can provide simple preventative services at a greatly reduced cost. Learn more about the Mathile Institute at: http://www.mathileinstitute.org/ |
To donate online, please To remove your name from our mailing list, please click here. Questions or comments? E-mail us at info@shouldertoshoulder.org |
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