Most of the community served by Goducate literacy centers do not have access to state health services. Hypertension is common there because of the high salt diet. However, people there with hypertension are unaware of their condition and do not seek treatment until complications, such as a stroke, occurs.
Explaining about hypertension to parent
Goducate has decided to take a preventive approach with our anti-hypertension program. Armed with a simple consumer-grade digital blood-pressure machine, our health educator visits villages where Goducate has a literacy center to check the blood pressure of the students’ parents and to explain to them what hypertension is, how it comes about, and how to look out for its complications, such as heart problems, stroke, and kidney failure.
Those found to have high readings even after repeated measurements are advised to help themselves by doing the following:
- Lose weight if they are obese
- Make dietary changes such as cutting down on oil and salt
- Reduce or to quit smoking
- Exercise more, for example, by doing more gardening
- Seek medical treatment (for those with the more severely high readings)
The health educator will return to the village every 6 months to monitor the parents’ blood pressure.
Earlier this month, Goducate Children’s Home, Cambodia, welcomed 5 new children into the “family”. These children, Nat, Lynn, Kanya, Mon and Nia, come from Battambang, a 12-hour drive away from the Home. They come from very poor homes and have received little education. They came to the Home in hope of a better education and a better life in the future.
The new children were taken for medical check-ups… Continue reading
Since Goducate aims to help needy Asians help themselves, Bangladesh is a country that has attracted its attention.
Recently, Bangladesh was in the news because of a horrific factory collapse that killed over 1100 garment workers. I was in the country when that accident took place.
Bangladesh is the most densely populated large country. It has about 160 million people (half of US population) squeezed into a land… Continue reading
Goducate Training Center (GTC), in Iloilo, Philippines, held its first Recruitment Conference on May 6-8.
Invitations had been sent to new university graduates, to working people, and to those who had expressed interest in being trained as community development workers (CDWs). Over 300 people from all over the Philippines attended the conference.
The topics covered included the history of Goducate, its philosophies, its CDW training program, and the… Continue reading
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