There is increase in disease, particularly skin disease, conjunctivitis, malaria, and dengue. Of course, the numbers are only partial representations of the human condition. Nonetheless, there are figures which substantiate hope. Thousands of students and teachers offer volunteer service across the country in clean-up campaigns, in assistance to the new refugee population, in emergency food packaging and delivery. Hundreds of grassroots campaigns within Honduras and throughout the world raise emergency assistance.
Governments continue to respond with financial and technical assistance.
The crucial issue of debt relief has finally taken center stage. Recovery and rebuilding, however, depend on looking back at what existed in Central America before the turning point presented by Mitch in October 1998. Endemic poverty, intense political polarization, unequal distribution of natural resources and wealth, violation of human rights, and civil war are noted parts of the history of the isthmus. The Honduran economy has traditionally been based on the exportation of raw materials, particularly via mining, and agricultural products such as bananas, palm oil, coffee, lumber, and most recently shrimp. Much of the agroexport and mining has been in the hands of transnational corporations.