The Road to Health: Children of Armenia Fund

Overview Common 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

Malnutrition What is malnutrition? Adolescents have unhealthy habits that can be difficult to break Availability of healthy foods in schools “Culture” of food Parental Influence

Dental Decay Common 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/Water Run 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 Future For 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