I am frequently asked by friends and acquaintances if I see and treat strange or exotic infectious diseases on my medical relief trips to Honduras
I recently co-authored a paper (Medical Relief Services in Rural Honduras: An Assessment of Healthcare Needs and Delivery with a Comparison of Two Neighboring Communities), with collaborators Rachel Whitney and Dr. Mike Stevens, highlighting the common diagnoses encountered. In brief we see a predominance of common musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal and dermatologic complaints. The prevalence of obesity in our clinical sample was indeed striking, with 60% of the patients in one community being either overweight or obese. Now, these patients are by no means a representative sample of Hondurans, however, it does highlight the impact of sociodemographic predictors of health. Although both communities were indigent, the more urbanized community was likely associated with declining physical activity and increased consumption of calorie rich, nutrient poor food. Obesity in Latin America has been increasing in the last 10-15 years. Notably, obesity is most prevalent in urbanized areas of countries rising from poverty. This has been previously reported.
So it appears that future medical relief missions to these Honduran communities should adequately prepare themselves to manage conditions associated with an expanding obesity epidemic.
