This will be a 3-year team project, for which we hope to raise $100,000 in cash and $100,000 in donated equipment in 2008, including medical microscopes,  a 4WD vehicle; and train a team of local nurses and health personnel in the diagnosis and treatment of parasitic and worm infestations, and other infectious diseases.

The medical situation in Ancash Province is dire.  According to UNICEF and CIA estimates, as many as a third of the children do not live to see their tenth birthday, and many of those who do survive are ridden with illnesses for which there is a ready cure. The problem simply is that the children are not getting the medical care they need.
 
We plan to conduct an epidemiological survey of parasitic and worm infestations that are so common in the region, and identify further measures that the Peruvian government can adopt in its administrative planning to combat these serious problems.

We will work with local health professionals at the Medical Clinics, and help them correctly identify the causes of the illnesses that kill so many of their children. For accurate diagnosis, microscopes are an essential tool, and we have collected generous donations of more than 40 microscopes so far to bring to the clinics. We will train the nurses who staff the clinics how to examine blood, sputa and stool samples for the pathogens that cause each specific illness.

Thus, we will help the medical personnel make correct diagnoses, and put into effect effective treatment schedules, something they have not been able to do without the microscopes.

We will help educate the high school students on simple preventive measures they can take against common ailments, demonstrating to them that eggs and larvae of worms commonly are present on the uncooked vegetables Peruvians love to eat. In turn, we believe these students will be very effective agents to spread the word to their parents, and to others in the community. 

As we make progress, we believe the population at large will begin to see the effect of good health measures, and proper treatment, on the health of their communities.

We are also working closely with the Peruvian Health Ministry, (the Misterio de Salud) in Lima, who have been very supportive of our efforts.