HP+ Supports the Creation of a Ventilator Task Force to Combat COVID-19 in Honduras
In Honduras, cases of COVID-19 continue to rise dramatically—recent counts estimate nearly 8,858 confirmed cases of the virus and 312 deaths—while the country’s public health system strains under the limitations of its capacity to manage patients with severe illness. To help the Honduran government in its efforts to effectively respond to the crisis, HP+ has supported the creation of a Ventilator Task Force.
The task force, created with the aim of optimizing distribution and use of donated ventilators for severe COVID-19 cases, is working closely with the USAID-funded EpiC project and other key stakeholders to launch a rapid assessment of ventilator readiness across the country’s major health facilities. These findings will provide a blueprint for targeted assistance to support scale-up of distribution and dissemination of proper use of the equipment within health facilities. Already, the task force has developed a plan for distributing the first batch of donated ventilators to two hospitals most in need, in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula.
The donated ventilators from the U.S. Government will significantly increase the roughly 336 ventilators currently present in public sector facilities. This critical support has the potential to save countless lives in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic.
