Honduras Health News

The government announced a renovation and expansion of Siguatepeque's public clinic with an investment of over 42 million lempiras (about $1.7 million) to be completed in eleven months, including upgrades to emergency, obstetrics, pharmacy, and physical therapy services.

Professional nurses and the government reached a partial accord to address labor demands, with the government committing to hire 94 nursing staff members.

Pharmacies at the Social Security's Regional Hospital of the North will close temporarily from September 21 to 25 for inventory work, affecting the outpatient, oncology, hospital, and emergency pharmacies.

A teenager suffered full-body electrical burns and head trauma after being struck by an electrical discharge while using a power drill on a roof in San Marcos de Colón; he was transferred to Tegucigalpa for specialized burn care.

The Health Ministry has not submitted required quarterly reports to Congress on spending from a 500-million-lempira emergency health fund approved in February 2026, which was supposed to finance surgeries, expedite drug purchases, and equip operating rooms.

About 1.8 million Hondurans—roughly 17% of the population—face food crisis conditions, driven by drought and crop losses in the Dry Corridor, with Francisco Morazán, Cortés, and Yoro holding the largest affected populations.

Congress member Johana Bermúdez introduced a bill to increase the National Diabetes Institute's budget by 15 million lempiras (about $600,000) for fiscal 2027, aiming to strengthen prevention and care services for Hondurans with diabetes.

The National Association of Auxiliary Nurses and Nurses (ANEEAH) will hold an emergency assembly on Tuesday to decide whether to join medical personnel in a planned strike on Wednesday over unmet government commitments on salaries and contracts.

Patients at public hospitals face delays as doctors conduct nationwide informational assemblies, while nurses threaten to join the action if the health ministry fails to meet demands on job stability, wages, and reintegrations.

Honduras has recorded 225 confirmed whooping cough cases and 19 deaths as of mid-September 2026, a sharp resurgence of a disease health officials say is entirely preventable through vaccination.

A minibus driver died on September 22 while operating his route between Choloma, Puerto Cortés, and San Pedro Sula; preliminary reports suggest a heart attack, though the cause has not been officially confirmed.

Honduras launched a two-year, $1 million project to strengthen surveillance and combat antimicrobial resistance across health, agriculture, animal, and environmental sectors through coordinated national action.

The Honduran Medical College has called all physicians nationwide to an emergency informational assembly on Sunday at 7 a.m.

Health authorities are monitoring a 2026 surge in dengue (8,825 confirmed cases through August), measles (14 confirmed cases after 29 years absent), whooping cough, and botfly myiasis, with vaccination coverage at only 60% nationwide.

The Health Ministry is distributing 81 digital colposcopes across Honduras's 20 health regions to improve early detection and treatment of precancerous cervical lesions.

Honduras's Public Ministry forensic mental health department completed 752 evaluations through August 2026—371 in forensic psychology, 360 in psychiatry, and 21 in social work—providing medical-legal opinions that officials say are essential to the criminal justice system.

Honduras's epidemiological chief warned residents to keep water containers tightly covered to prevent mosquito breeding during a water shortage in Tegucigalpa, as the country has recorded 11,848 dengue cases and four deaths so far this year.

Lawyers analyzing Honduras's ongoing physician strike say the suspension of outpatient services in public hospitals could expose officials and doctors to legal liability for failing to provide essential healthcare to low-income patients.

The Materno Infantil hospital in Tegucigalpa reported 478 births to adolescents through early September—15.54% of all deliveries—including 33 girls aged 14, prompting the hospital to open a clinic offering contraceptive counseling, psychological support, and family planning to prevent repeat pregnancies.

Honduras has finished implementing its National Vaccination System nationwide, including training that enables real-time electronic vaccination records and improved coverage tracking.

Honduras's health regulator (ARSA) claims it has no authority to license or supervise genetics laboratories operating within the Próspera special economic zone, contradicting officials' prior statements that the labs would coordinate with the agency.

The Health Ministry processed payments of about L79.9 million (roughly $3 million) for cost-of-living adjustments and a five-year bonus to 4,258 employees across 31 health units, with Deputy Minister Ángel Eduardo Midence also confirming that contracts with decentralized hospitals will remain in effect through December 2026.

Honduras's nursing professionals, with about 480 under temporary contracts and 90 unrecontracted, have given the Health Ministry until a September 18 meeting to address staffing and wage demands or face a national strike the following week.

The IHSS director said the institute has no unpaid salary debts to its physicians and called a doctors' work stoppage unjustified, asserting they are striking in solidarity with health workers at other institutions that do have payment arrears.

Honduras has recorded 299 cases of myiasis caused by the screwworm fly as of mid-September, approaching the 300 cases reported for all of 2025, with Francisco Morazán accounting for most infections and health officials warning vulnerable groups to keep wounds covered.

Honduras's judiciary is organizing a nationwide training program for judges on domestic-violence law and an information fair on November 27 to help women report abuse, part of a coordinated effort to strengthen enforcement and reduce domestic violence.

Tegucigalpa's mayor warned that the capital's severe drought—with water deliveries now every 12 days and reservoirs at critical levels—risks triggering a public-health emergency, and officials are setting up 15 new wells and monitoring for disease outbreaks like dengue.

Central America's economic ministers granted a six-month extension, to January 15, 2027, for food and beverage makers to use up existing printed labels listing erythrosine (Red No. 3), a dye banned last year after US regulators linked it to cancer in animal tests.

President Nasry Asfura said the government has completed payment of all biennial bonuses and cost-of-living adjustments owed to doctors through August 31, and is opening positions for specialist physicians to expand health-system capacity.

Honduras's Health Ministry announced that most health facilities will remain open on September 15, with hospitals providing emergency services only, while primary-care centers and emergency clinics will operate normally during the independence-day holiday.