Communities improved healthy practices with the Pata Dakú Program

The Pata Dakú - Happy Family Program, implemented by PETROPERÚ, ended with important lessons learned in best prevention practices against dengue, malaria and COVID-19; as well as adequate nutrition and mental health care in the communities of the Datem del Marañón and Alto Amazonas provinces, in the Loreto region.

This social program that contributed to improving the quality of life of families in the intervened areas was carried out for four months, thanks to the strategic alliance between PETROPERÚ, the Directorate of Indigenous or Native Peoples of the Ministry of Health, the Regional Directorate of Health - DIRESA of Loreto and the Universidad Peruana Unión.

For this, there were 34 health agents specializing in nursing, nutrition, and psychology, who developed the activities permanently in six communities and on an itinerant basis in another 41 communities, located in the area of influence of the North Peruvian Pipeline.

Achievements

The permanent activities benefited 216 families from the communities of Sinchi Roca, Santa Rosa, Nuevo Jerusalem, Félix Flores, Saramiriza and Chapis, of the Datem del Marañón province and included the execution of training workshops and demonstrations, awareness campaigns, about how to improve diet and nutrition, causes of anemia and health consequences; what complementary foods they can use, as well as breastfeeding, hygiene and food handling.

Good practices to improve nutrition were accompanied by cookbooks on complementary food with products rich in iron and typical of the region, differentiated for the mestizo communities and the Awajún communities.

The program contributed to the recovery of 19 of the 38 children with anemia detected at the beginning of the intervention. This was thanks to the support of the families who followed the recommendations provided by the health personnel.

Among the prevention actions, the families learned the techniques of hand washing, the use of the mask, maintain social distancing, have healthy homes, eliminate useless waste, disinfect their containers and use a mosquito net.

Also, immunizations, growth and development control, were carried out for children under 3 years of age. As well as the Healthy Homes campaign, achieving that 216 families now have a “toilet corner” in their homes.

Meanwhile, the itinerant activities were developed through the so-called Health Caravans, sharing learnings with the same themes of nutrition, emotional health, and prevention against dengue, malaria, and COVID-19, benefiting 909 leaders and residents of 43 communities, also from the Datem del Marañón and Alto Amazonas provinces.

They participated in Awareness Workshops for Authorities and Community Leaders in preventive measures, while Community Agents were trained in the management of the Community First Aid Kit.

At the same time, PETROPERÚ has been developing various actions in support of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, playing a key role in its areas of influence of its operations. In the town of Saramiriza, province of Datem del Marañón, a medicinal oxygen plant has been installed that has been attending to the sanitary needs of the native communities near the North Peruvian Pipeline, among many other actions.