Browse Honduras Daily Stories

Congress approved a measure to mark October 25 annually as Spina Bifida Prevention Day, aiming to raise awareness of a birth defect that affects an estimated 30–40 per 10,000 live births in Honduras and can be prevented with adequate folic acid intake during early pregnancy.

Honduras's Medical College continued nationwide informational assemblies on October 21, marking 45 consecutive days of protest over unpaid wages, salary compliance, pending raises, and reinstatement of fired doctors, with the government and Medical College offering conflicting accounts of resolved cases.

Honduras has recorded 315 cases of human screwworm infection (myiasis) in 2026, exceeding all of 2025, with three deaths among people over 70; health authorities urge preventive measures including keeping wounds covered and avoiding outdoor sleep near livestock areas.

Health authorities report that 6,638 public-sector physicians have received their salaries, representing 96% of registered medical staff nationwide, though 278 doctors remain unpaid.

Government-run mobile health units visiting rural municipalities across Honduras provide free consultations, diagnostic tests, and medications, serving nearly 10,000 people in their first month as an alternative during the ongoing physician strike.

Honduras has confirmed five deaths from severe dengue in Olancho, Choluteca, and the capital, with health authorities investigating a possible sixth fatality of a 19-year-old from Roatán whose case evaluation will take two to three weeks.

Honduras's Medical College is holding a 12-hour nationwide assembly on October 12 to press 15 labor demands, including halted dismissals, back pay, and a 12% budget allocation to public health, with emergency and critical-care units required to maintain coverage.

Honduras's Medical College warns that physician protests over months of unpaid salaries will intensify after a national holiday if the government does not provide concrete payment solutions, with the current 30-day work stoppage already forcing thousands of hospital appointments and procedures to be suspended and rescheduled.

Former Health Secretary Carla Paredes says medical equipment purchased under the Castro administration is deteriorating in a Tegucigalpa warehouse while the Asfura government has closed 24-hour health centers, pushing patients toward private clinics.

The IHSS will restart nationwide medical consultations on October 12 after doctors agreed to return following five weeks of informational assemblies, following a directive board's recognition of a 2025 agreement that extends annual vacation time from 18 to 21 days.

Honduras has gone 17 consecutive years without a human rabies case transmitted by dogs and is working toward international certification of the achievement through ongoing dog vaccination campaigns, disease surveillance, and monitoring of wildlife reservoirs.

At least 200 interim and 500 contract physicians at the Honduran Social Security Institute (IHSS) have not received payment, according to the association's president Ricardo Rodas.

Honduras's social-security institute (IHSS) announced it will fully resume health services and administrative work on October 12 after concluding informational assemblies by the medical college at its clinics and hospitals nationwide.

President Asfura's proposal to purchase an operating private hospital and relocate outpatient and emergency services from the overcrowded Hospital Escuela faces skepticism from physicians who question whether a private facility would have sufficient capacity to meaningfully ease the strain on the nation's primary public hospital.

The government is examining the purchase of an already-built hospital to add to the public health network and relieve overcrowding at Hospital Escuela, Honduras's main medical center.

Physician assemblies at Honduras's public-health institute have suspended outpatient consultations and elective surgeries for nearly a month, costing over L400 million (about $16 million), while doctors press demands for wage adjustments and contract improvements.

Honduras's month-long physician labor action, now in its fourth week of assembly-led protests, has left non-emergency patients waiting weeks for rescheduled appointments, while doctors demand salary arrears, contract renewals, wage adjustments tied to inflation, and increased health-sector funding.

Dr. Mario Javier García Martínez, former director of Forensic Medicine and a specialist in legal and forensic medicine who taught at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, died of a heart attack.

Honduras's Medical College has prolonged nationwide informational assemblies in the public health system, pressing for resolution of unjustified layoffs, back pay for over 1,300 health workers owed up to eight months of salary, and broader healthcare instability.

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

A three-week work stoppage by the Medical College of Honduras has left patients with cancer, kidney disease, diabetes, and hypertension unable to access scheduled appointments, procedures, and treatments, forcing many to pay out of pocket for private consultations that can exceed L3,000 (about $120).

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.

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.

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

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.

More than 400 interim-contract physicians in Honduras are owed up to nine months of salary; after Friday's failed talks with the Health Ministry yielded no payment date, doctors are continuing nationwide hospital assemblies that suspend scheduled patient care.

Honduras formalized a new Commission for the Prevention of Teen Pregnancy on August 31, part of a broader system to protect children's and adolescents' rights, with coordination across government agencies and international partners to address early pregnancy and its underlying causes.

Immunologist Mary Vallecillo of Harvard Medical School contradicted a congressional health commission's proposal to require special sanitary licenses for used-clothing stores, saying the weeks-long shipping time in containers eliminates any viral transmission risk.

At a PAHO regional webinar, Honduras Deputy Health Minister Eduardo Midence highlighted the country's progress in reducing preventable maternal deaths through emergency obstetric coordination, adolescent pregnancy prevention, and expanded contraceptive access.

Honduras's Medical College challenged Health Ministry assertions that 96% of public-sector doctors have been paid, questioning the source of the government's figures while many physicians remain unpaid for months.