Prospera Panama

10/24/2025

This is an urgent call to action. On October 1, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the White House started withholding almost half of PEPFAR’s budget. PEPFAR is the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and is a remarkably effective program of HIV care funded by the United States and credited with saving 26 million lives since 2002. It is the world’s most extensive HIV and AIDS care funding program.

This is an unprecedented theft of bipartisan, 100% congressionally authorized funding. And it couldn’t come at a worse time. Global health care is already reeling from the destruction of U.S. foreign aid programs under USAID earlier this year. Now, HIV and AIDS programs in impoverished communities worldwide are seeing 30-50% budget cuts, devastating entire health systems.

The White House is illegally holding onto $3 billion in funding that was legally designated by Congress for PEPFAR and the Global Fund to fight Tuberculosis and Malaria.
PLEASE Call your congressman about PEPFAR funding, and urge them to pressure the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the State Department to release all congressionally approved funding for PEPFAR and the Global Fund. Chuck Fleischman, Phone: 202-224-3121

Please help Support Partners In Health as they try to prevent another global crisis of HIV, TB and Malaria!

We believe quality health care is a universal human right. Around the world, Partners In Health fights injustice by providing care first to those who need it most.

10/14/2025

https://mailchi.mp/4cef38ac1d28/256-surgeries-in-bocas-del-toro

09/12/2025

Prospera is 5 years old! Thank you to all our hospitality partners and supporters for your encouragement as we continue to pursue hygiene education for children in Panama, participate in and organize medical missions for people in need, and meet with government officials to advocate for medical care for the most vulnerable. This year, we were thrilled to honor our colleagues in both Panama Mission Medical and Panama Eye Ministries for 25 years of service! Their actions inspired Prospera, and working together is one of the greatest joys in my life. We love you, Diane Edrington& Vicki Burcham!

09/04/2025

Hello Dr Ladapo,
My name is Kimberly Howard and I am a health educator. I was extremely disturbed to hear this week that Florida would be ending all vaccine mandates. I work across the United States bringing health education information to children and programming in Spanish for educators in Panama. Particularly in Third World countries where families do not have access to vaccines I have witnessed horrible deformities and widespread community illness. As a certified nurse aid and medical interpreter I have cared for adults in the US who suffered from polio and all of the horrible repercussions to their health after years were painful to watch. I myself benefited from our regular vaccine schedule as have both of my children and our entire family. This confusing rhetoric telling families vaccines aren’t essential or effective is harmful and could cause widespread disease. I ask you to make the best public health decision and reinstate all vaccine mandates within your power.

Kimberly Howard
Prospera- Executive Director

08/12/2025

Today, we are featuring a fundraiser for current Peace Corps Panama Volunteer Celeste from Illinois. Celeste and her neighbors have decided to renovate a building to become their Health Resource Library and Community Space that will serve more than 2,000 people in a Ngäbe indigenous community in rural Panamá. It will serve not only as a library, but also as a hub for workshops, health education sessions, and conversations facilitated by trained local health educators and the Ministry of Health. We spoke with Celeste last week via Zoom and learned about her vision for a healthier community, including training a team of young adult health educators. Prospera hopes to partner further with her to provide soap and hygiene education.
Please give if you can!

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07/12/2025

We are going back to Panama in September for Handwashing Classes at the Oxford School and our first cataract mission in Bocas del Toro! Help us raise $3,000

06/25/2025

Kennedy Withdraws U.S. Funding Pledge to International Vaccine Agency- The United States will withdraw its financial support of Gavi, the global organization that helps purchase vaccines for children in poor countries

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that the agency, Gavi, had “ignored the science” in immunizing children around the world.

06/14/2025

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that codifies $8.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid, along with an additional $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This bill, known as a rescissions package, was part of an effort by the White House to claw back previously approved, but not yet spent, funding. The package was approved by a narrow vote, with some Republicans joining Democrats in opposition.

The bill was pushed by the White House, specifically by President Trump, to cut spending and align with his "America First" agenda. The cuts affect various foreign aid programs, including international disaster assistance, global health initiatives, and funding for on-the-ground aid organizations that serve patients. Opponents of the cuts argue that they will have a devastating impact on vulnerable populations and undermine U.S. influence. The current package includes catastrophic cuts to global health programs, including the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

PEPFAR has helped avert the deaths of over 25 million people worldwide by providing critical HIV treatment and prevention. Currently, the State Department estimates that 20.6 million people are receiving U.S.-funded antiretroviral therapy. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration. Call your senators!

Today, Prospera wants to recognize Partners In Health for their incredible work serving susceptible populations and preventing the spread of treatable disease!

06/02/2025

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/health/trump-hiv-cuts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.L08.Xh-2._9USegQBYDDQ&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The termination is the latest in a series of cuts to H.I.V. research and programs to prevent the disease.

05/23/2025

Making soap and cleaners from fermented fruit waste! What a neat idea!

03/26/2025

“This is not just a bureaucratic decision, there are children’s lives at stake, global health security will be at stake,” he said. “Supporting Gavi in Sierra Leone is not just a Sierra Leone issue, it’s something the region, the world, benefits from.”

In addition to trying to reach all children with routine immunizations, Sierra Leone is currently battling an mpox outbreak, for which Gavi has provided both vaccines and critical support to deliver them, he said.

“We hope the U.S. government will continue to be the global leader it always been — putting money in Gavi is not an expenditure, it’s an investment,” Dr. Demby said

Gavi is estimated to have saved the lives of 19 million children since it was set up 25 years ago. The United States contributes 13 percent of its budget.

A 281-page spreadsheet obtained by The Times lists the Trump administration’s plans for thousands of foreign aid programs.