Educational intervention for youth at-risk for HD

In 2022, we expanded the efforts to more youth at risk for Huntington's disease in Venezuela - between the ages of 3-18, we have now identified and are assisting 348 children living in conditions of extreme vulnerability. As we expanded our door-to-door efforts to identify and characterize the living conditions of all children at-risk for the disease in San Luis and Barranquitas, Venezuela, we were able to enroll and assist more children & adolescents. 

Assisted by 59 volunteers, we conducted 12 events with the kids to foster their academic education and conducted workshops to learn a trade. As most of the teenagers from the town of Barranquitas do not go to school, we continued our efforts to provide them with training opportunities to learn a trade, either mechanic/electrical training, or sewing. A total of 61 youth participated. In addition, we conducted microfinancing workshops for young women.

We also continued with our psychological program to assist youth, instructed by our clinical psychologist in Venezuela. In 2022, 7 teenagers were trained to manage group sessions, who are now expanding our efforts to reach more adolescents in both San Luis and Barranquitas. In addition, our psychologist also met with individual children and their parents or legal guardian, to assist them with the kid's mental health issues due to poverty and the coexistence of the disease in their families. In total, 81 children and youth were assisted in biweekly meetings that took place during the entire 2022 year.

Twice a year, the kids in the program received materials to foster their education - books, writing pads, coloring books, backpacks etc. We also conducted Christmas events for all the children in December 2022.

A full annual report will be available in March 2023 at the Factor-H website

Factor-H and our staff and collaborators on the ground in Zulia State, Venezuela, continue their work to provide educational assistance for kids at-risk for Huntington's disease (HD). In 2022, we have conducted a house-by-house survey of families affected by HD, and identified clear needs and priorities for program implementation. Over 80% of all families we serve live in conditions of poverty or extreme poverty. 

This effort also identified clear educational gaps in young kids and teenagers, and therefore we renewed our educational efforts to provide basic education & literacy, as well as tailoring workshops for teenage kids to learn a trade.

The Workshop School Project which started in 2022, aims to standardize the knowledge of adolescents, between 13 and 17 years old,d not enrolled in school in Barranquitas and San Luis, with that corresponding to their chronological age to be reinserted or inserted into the official formal educational structure of Venezuela. The program offers training in trades that allow the adolescents alternatives to fishing, since their family requires them to be productive due to poverty levels. 

Our goal is to ensure adolescents can work and maintain a basic level of education. The inability to be educated and work would have rippling effects in their lives and their communities.  In an initial stage, the Trade Training Workshops have been activated for adolescents who are not in school. Among the active workshops currently initiated are the repair of outboard motorboats and macramé weaving; others, expected to begin as soon as funding is available include teaching how torepair of AC units and refrigerators, hairdressing and education about micro-businesses, in 2023. 

In addition to these training opportunities, which we aim to benefit 80 teenagers, we will continue with various psychological support activities for both teenagers and young kids. Factor-H recently hired an experienced psychologist as part of our staff on the ground, who has been organizing group therapy sessions for teenagers from HD families, as well as providing individual parent/child sessions as needed in the communities.