Endometriosis, a painful stealth disease, attacks women under many disguises

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EL PASO — Melissa Ronquillo, was a teenager when she first experienced some painful and bewildering pelvic cramps and pain that radiated down her legs. The mystery discomfort continued for years until at age 24 it was diagnosed as endometriosis

“I have painful cramps, pelvic pain, heavy bleeding, nausea, and back pain not only during my cycle but in between, as well as when I exercise.”said Ronquillo,33. The Mayo Clinic describes endometriosis,which affects 176 million women and girls worldwide, as a painful disorder in which the tissue that normally lines the inside of a woman’s uterus, referred to as the endometrium, grows outside. The symptoms include nausea, abdominal pain, fatigue and in more severe cases infertility. Although there is no known definitive cause for the disorder, there are many treatments available to make life with endometriosis easier.

Zumba instructors and UTEP mascot, Paydirt Pete, entice people into healthy exercising. (Cassandra Morrill/Borderzine.com)

Health care information finds a new venue at the local zoo

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EL PASO – A different species of animal invaded the El Paso Zoo recently as some 20 community health agencies gathered there with the wildlife to focus the need human beings have for healthy living habits. The El Paso Zoo and the Woman’s Health Initiative (WHI) program at the University of Texas at El Paso came together on Saturday the 26th of February to broadcast a message about diabetes, HIV, and ways to improve health in a fun way. The zoo was filled with UTEP students in bright orange school colors and members of the community. “You can have fun and be healthy at the same time,” Arely Hernandez, member of the WHI, said. She added these types of events allow UTEP students to get their family and friends involved as well.

"Machos enmascarados" are putting their wives' health in risk. (Christian Guerrero/Borderzine.com)

“Machos enmascarados” can infect their own wives with HIV/AIDS

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EL PASO – The number of Latina housewives infected with HIV is increasing in El Paso and the perpetrators are “machos enmascarados,” usually their own husbands. “I had never seen the increase in that type of vulnerable heterosexual family-oriented woman, as I am seeing it now,” said Jorge Salazar, health services administrator of the Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe. “La Fe is focusing on the very difficult topic of educating and empowering our women.”

Women are finding out to their dismay that their prince charming is experimenting with his sexuality in what is called MSM (men having sex with men), contracting HIV/AIDS and passing it on to them, according to Salazar. December 1 is World AIDS Day, and Salazar said that he hopes that a new awareness of this new face of HIV in the Latino community will erase the image of what a person with HIV/AIDS may look like and start affected people on a journey of hope, peace and help. Women in El Paso are becoming more vulnerable to this situation and the numbers have been rising.

Minga brings health information to women of the Amazon

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They travel miles and days by canoe, winding down Amazon River waterways that are infested with malaria-carrying mosquitoes and exotic insects.  Mostly women, they paddle through an environment that hides all types of predators, both human and animal, just to deliver a letter to the local mailman. The authors of these letters live along the huge snaking maze of the Peruvian Amazon, where indigenous communities play a vital role in the writing and producing of a radio show called, “Welcome Health.”  The show, which is aired twice daily, broadcasting through out the vast jungles of Peru, is part of a series of community-based projects facilitated by Minga, a non-profit organization formed in 1998. Their aim was to find ways to convey information to women and children about health, safe sex and prevention of diseases as well as tips on what to do through alternative methods of communication. Eliana Elias is founder and executive director of Minga. “Since the beginning we wanted to organize a project they may build bridges.

El Paso’s Planned Parenthoods shuts its doors after 72 years

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EL PASO, Texas – After providing services for 72 years, El Paso’s Planned Parenthoods has shut down virtually over night due to lack of funding. Locally, Planned Parenthood (PP) first opened its doors in 1937, with founder, Margaret Sanger, making a visit to El Paso to deliver an opening speech.  From its start in 1921, with its original name, American Birth Control League, PP has provided vital healthcare information to men, women, and young people all over the world. It has been a place for affordable HIV/AIDS testing as well as a trusted source of prenatal and postnatal information and healthcare.  For the last 90 years “PP has promoted a commonsense approach to women’s health and well-being, based on respect for each individual’s right to make informed, independent decisions about health, sex, and family planning,” according to the Planned Parenthood website. El Paso is a community deeply rooted in the Catholic Faith. Between 2000 and 2006 16,263 women between 15 and 19 gave birth, according to the County Health Rankings.