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APECA works closely with Peruvian government agencies through our community outreach health programs. APECA supports the delivery of the Ministry of Health programs by providing coordination and logistical support to remote villages. Floods, distance and lack of communication challenge the goal of making all services available to every member of the community so for many villagers this is their only contact with Peruvian health workers. The APECA team is known and welcomed by the villagers as they assist in the delivery of life saving care. These programs address the following; (1) periodic vaccinations and preventive health visits to villages, (2) dental health campaigns, (3) the Vigilantes de Salud, a training program for leadership and basic emergency medicine and (4) training of rural midwives. General Health & Vaccination Campaigns 
Purpose: To bring the health care workers to the villages to deliver vaccines to children and pregnant mothers, birth control, TB treatments, Malaria testing, and all the other programs available to the population. Description: In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, 10 times/year APECA makes extensive trips to take Health Ministry nurses and technicians to visit remote settlements in the district. A campaign may last seven to twelve days, visit 12 to 25 villages, and reaches hundreds of villagers. Our data is clear. When the villages are not reached by a vaccine campaign, there will be out breaks of whooping cough and tetanus and there will be a higher rate of respiratory deaths for children under five years of age. APECA, who has earned the trust of both the villagers and the government, facilitates the delivery of these services by organizing and setting up clinic sites in these remote communities and providing transportation, food, housing and governmental interfacing where required. Dental health Campaigns
Purpose: To offer dental services to impoverished villagers who live in isolated communities which do not have access to dental care and to provide flouride treatments to elementary school children. Description: In 1994, APECA received a visit from a volunteer dentist. Interest has increased each year since then. Thanks to a student initiative in the USA, years of dental campaign experience on the part of dental professionals and lots of coordination in remote villages, APECA conducted a great 10th dental campaign with the 3rd year dental students of the University of Connecticut. Eleven students, supervised by three preceptors and two hygienists, provided clinics in 8 villages from February 29 to March 6, 2004, treated over 414 patients and provided dental education on preventative care to hundreds more. Another dental campaign provides a fluoride program for elementary school children. The dental program engages the services of volunteer doctors and university medical students in the delivery of services and training of local residents to carry out fluoride treatment services and dental assistant responsibilities. Trained local residents serve on a volunteer basis. Fluoride treatments are delivered at the schools during the school day. Village medical posts and hospitals in Iquitos receive medical supplies and equipment through donations through these programs and through other overseas visitors. Vigilantes de Salud
Purpose: To provide first aid and medical attention by trained specialists. Description: The first classes of health volunteers from rural communities completed their training in 2000 and 2001. Each of the 15 class members was elected by his community to become a resource for health and first aid in the village. Health professionals conducted the training during six, three-day, sessions at El Fundo. Each qualified trainee then received a health chest of basic medical supplies for his village, and the villagers committed themselves to replacing them as used. The Vigilantes use both pharmaceutical medicines and local natural medicines. They are APECA's liaison in the villages to promote projects for clean water, waste disposal, and other community development. Through agreement with the Ministry of Health, this project now has expanded in course material and many communities now have improved health care. Midwife Training Campaigns
Purpose: To train village midwives and other community health workers in the safe delivery and care of infants. Description: As 90% of the babies are born at home in APECA’s service area of the District of Fernando Lores, APECA made the decision to address the need for midwife training in remote villages. Due to the use of rusty or unsanitary implements used to cut umbilical cords at birth, Peru has one of the highest neonatal tetanus death rates in the world. Yet, the Peruvian government began discouraging the use of mid-wives and to advocate the use of hospitals or health clinics for birthing. APECA knew that the population of the remote villages of Fernando Lores could not make this change and sought a solution that could work within the current system. Gina Low, APECA executive director, defended the use of the midwife program to the Policy Committee of the Peruvian Ministry of Health. This resulted in a cooperative effort to educate midwives and to train them to utilize the few local health care providers. The midwife is in the best position to educate the mothers and to collect the data for the registration of children in the health care system. Who is closer to the
new mother than the midwife who assists in the delivery? Where is the
confidence and trust? Now, trusted midwives in the community are better
prepared to provide medical education. New mothers will come to know how
to prevent some of the illnesses that can endanger the lives of their
children.
Clean Water Project Purpose:APECA is currently working on a pilot project for rainwater collection to supply a small community with clean, safe drinking water. Description:The villages in the District of Fernando Lores collect their water from the Amazon River or from contaminated wells. Undeniably, unsafe water is a leading concern of health experts around the world. More people die each year from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war. In Peru, overall, at least 33% of the population does not have access to safe drinking water. In the District of Fernando Lores, the percentage grows to greater than 99% of the population. The Ministry of Health estimates that over half of all the deaths in the district of Fernando Lores are due to water born diseases. Through funding provided by the Rotary Club of East Hartford, Connecticut, APECA installed a water catchment system at the Neuvo Progreso "posta medica" to provide clean and safe water to the clinic. Many of these systems are desperatly needed. APECA has identified 30 villages where this type of system is viable
and APECA, Rotary Clubs in the USA and Rotary International are working
to make it happen.
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