the road to health: children of armenia fund

The Road to Health:Children of Armenia

Fund

OverviewCommon health conditions in villages

Intervention, Prevention, & Treatment

Hopes for the future

Miscellaneous

What is COAF?COAF is a nonprofit organization

Works with community members to lower poverty in villages, with a focus on children

Founded 2000: focus on education, health, social, and economic growth

Work in the Armavir Marz (region) specifically in Baghramyan Region consisting of 15 rural communities with roughly 20,000 people

My Experience with COAF

Worked in 5 COAF villages: Karakert, Dalarik, Lernagog, Miasnikyan, and Shenik

Helped with the English camps and designated COAF-Summer Camps for ages 6-17

Created activities and presented to the children about dental/personal hygiene, nutrition, exercise, and anti-smoking

Common Health Conditions

Dental Decay

Malnutrition

Water/Sanitation

Soil-transmitted helminths

Lice

Anemia

Risky Behaviors (i.e. smoking, alcohol)

Today we’re going to focus on 3 main conditions

MalnutritionWhat is malnutrition?

Adolescents have unhealthy habits that can be difficult to break

Availability of healthy foods in schools

“Culture” of food

Parental Influence

Dental DecayCommon for all children, especially 6-9 year olds

Dental clinics (2 for 15 villages)

Sugar content of food

Access to water

Taboos of brushing teeth/Parental Influence

Sanitation/WaterRun down schools, homes, stores

Running and functional toilets/sinks

Many of the villages do not have clean drinking water at home or in the schools

Water only certain times of the day to take showers, wash up or do laundry

No culture of bringing water from home to school-sometimes don’t drink all day at school

COAF’s main goal is to find effective mechanisms to ensure sustainability of their health programs

Accessibility and affordability of health care

Work with many other organizations to help with the health care, home and work conditions, and much more

Intervention, Prevention, &

Treatment

Hopes for the FutureFor the villages to be able to use these

interventions and education that COAF and their supporting organizations have carried out to sustain their villages

Have the children use all their potential to do well for themselves, and give back to their homes and help it thrive