Since Hurricane Mitch there have been many humanitarian efforts to provide health care to the poor and needy of Honduras. Unfortunately there is little information available regarding the specific health needs in this country. The purpose of this project was to analyze data collected during a recent mission trip to Honduras for trends in health symptoms, diagnoses and health care practices to assist in the planning of future trips. Health Intake forms were created by Drs. Holcomb and Crigger and were filled out by 500 patients at the time of their visit to both rural and urban clinics. The forms included information on the patient's health history, current symptoms, diagnosis and treatment as well as their health habits and living conditions that might affect their health. Descriptive statistics revealed the clinic population to be primarily women and children. The most common presenting symptoms were gastrointestinal, non specific (i.e. fever, malaise . .. ) and pulmonary. Common diagnoses included intestinal parasites, arthritis and upper respiratory infections. The most frequently prescribed medications were over the counter medications (i.e. vitamins, and Tylenol) as well as antibiotics. Chi-square analysis revealed few differences between the urban and rural populations. It was discovered that many of the population continue to drink unpurified tap water, which may contribute to their gastrointestinal complaints and the frequent occurrence of intestinal parasites.

There is growing concern that the accelerated pace and increasing complexity of environmental change may be challenging people's ability to test, refine, and adjust livelihood strategies. This would be particularly challenging for poor households in hazardous environments, generating greater vulnerability to disasters. The context for this concern was examined in four rural communities from two different cultural realms along the Caribbean coast of Honduras. An ethnographic approach was used to understand how women household managers, community leaders, and elderly residents from Garifuna and Mestizo communities perceive and respond to hazards and other challenges in their environment. The analysis revealed how economic pressures combine with political context to contribute to an intensification of local land and resource use in the four communities. The consequent matrix of environmental hazards generates troubling uncertainties for these small-scale socioecological systems, particularly as the local ecological resources once available for livelihood adjustments become scarce. To make matters worse, institutional efforts to resolve environmental and economic challenges generating vulnerabilities for some rural communities are perceived as authoritarian, superimposed, and even culturally inappropriate. Confused or frustrated by so many uncertainties, households from both cultural realms try to adjust by increasing their dependence on an evolving web of political and financial resources beyond their communities, indeed from outside Honduras. / text