Agape started  the Integral Rural Health Program (PROSARIN) 10 years ago in order to serve highly vulnerable people in rural areas lacking basic health services. This  program is for people who would otherwise have no access  to medical treatment due to geographical, social, economic and cultural reasons, and who are prone  to contagious diseases that can be prevented. For this reason, we  start out by visiting communities where we select leaders whom we  train so that they can promote changes in behavior, attitude and health practices among their people.  These  health promoters become agents who strengthen  the organization of rural communities and help develop them. At the beginning, we had 10 promoters trained by MISPAS and hired by AGAPE covering a population of 15,000 people. Nowadays,  we have 16 promoters and serve a population of  22,545 beneficiaries. The process has been slow, but Agape has succeeded in doing teamwork with the community leaders

From the very beginning, our major challenges have been to improve the comunities´ organization, to change epidemic profiles, to strengthen the capacity of all institutional  and voluntary resources and to modernize them in order to make them competitive.  In a permanent search  to  make  these   towns sustainable, we have worked to establish an interinstitutional network to support town development.

Target population:

We work in two Salvadoran provinces: Sonsonate and Ahuachapán. We go to the following towns:

In Sonsonate ……………...Acajutla, Ishuatán, Izalco, Caluco and Sonsonate
In Ahuachapán ……………Guaymango, Jujutla, San Francisco Menéndez

Services we provide:

Child Attention

• Growth and development of healthy children
• Medical attention to malnourished children
• Diarrhea and parasite treatment
• Treatment for  respiratory infections
• Shots
• Every six months, we provide vitamin A, micronutrients and treatment for parasites

Attention to Women

• Pre-natal and post-natal attention. Pregnancy control.
• Shots, multivitamins  and micronutrients.
• Cytologies
• Risk signs,  etc.

Attention to Adolescents

• Education in health, sexually-transmitted infections, Drugs, Gender, prevention  of teen-pregnancies, etc.
• Micronutrient supplement and parasite treatment

Attention to senior citizens

• We provide health attention
• Vitamin supplement and parasite treatment
• Occupational  health attention

Attention to the Environment

• Rural bathrooms, potable water provision.
• Adequate trash disposal
• Vector elimination

Education and Health Promotion

• Educational talks
• Demonstrations
• House visits and family interviews

Community Organization

• Community board of directors
• Health committees
• Active volunteers
• Midwives
• Intra and interinstitutional coordination

Technical Staff

PROSARIN also has the following human resources:  16 health promoters, 25 volunteers from UAIRAC (Unidad de Atención de Infecciones Respiratorias Agudas Comunitarias: Acute Respiratory Infections Attention Unit.) 22 volunteers from UROCS (Unidad de Rehidratación Oral Comunitarias: Oral Rehydration Community Unit), 40 volunteers from DSRO (Distribuidores de Sales de Rehidratación Oral: Oral Rehydration  SALT Distributors), 20 well-organized community boards of directors, 10 health committees.

We use our supervisory meetings with health promoters to train them further. We conduct seminars on new and important topics during our monthly meetings. Our technical staff also receive on-going  training from MISPAS, OPS, etc.

Permanent coordinating support staff

·        Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance

·        Ministry of Education

·        Town Halls

·        Cooperatives from places where we help

·        Peace Corps volunteers

·        Other non-governmental organizations

Infrastructure

We have 16 health dispensaries out of which seven are temporary and 18 permanent.  The building materials we use for each dispensary vary depending upon the resources of each community.

Finances

It is important to emphasize that Agape runs productive programs in order to help finance social  assistance programs such as PROSARIN. When people use our services at the Agape Hotel, Restaurant, Retreat House, etc.  they help finance our social area and thus benefit thousands of needy Salvadorans.  Another important source of income comes from donations from our generous benefactors, financial aid from private enterprises and non-governmental organizations. 

In PROSARIN, beneficiaries pay a symbolic price for consultations. In return, they receive many health services and medicine. Every six months, we conduct anti-parasite campaigns. We provide vitamin A  and micronutrients free-of-charge for everyone.