Shoulder to Shoulder's Health Promoters

Health promoters form the backbone of our public health mission in the frontera. Each day, they travel by truck, moto, and foot into the rural Intibucá communities. Shoulder to Shoulder em- ploys a staff of 24 promoters, who reach each of our five municipalities every week.
Promoters perform nearly every service under the public health sun: providing health and nutri- tion education, human and animal vaccinations, water sampling, data gathering, and identification of high risk or needy members of the community. Their success rates are worthy of study. As a sim- ple example, promoters began vaccinating dogs for rabies five years ago. Each year, they identify and vaccinate every dog in the municipality. If you are familiar with the dogs of Intibucá, you know this is no small feat. Since the promoters began rabies
vaccinations, there has not been a single reported dog-related rabies case in our service area.
As members of our EAP teams, they develop relationships with individuals in the community and bring our doctors and nurses to inaccessible families.
In January and February 2013, promoters vis- ited 422 homes, took height and weight meas- urements of every child under two in targeted municipalities, engaged in community nutrition and health talks, and monitored the health of countless pregnant women, new babies, and high- risk individuals. Promoters are invaluable to our mission. Their work saves lives and improves the health of the members of our community.