No public or environmental health program will experience
long-term success and sustainability unless it includes a strong educational
component for the indigenous population.
Public Health International developed a village training
program in public and environmental health in Ecuador called “Salud Para el
Pueblo,” which has been successfully duplicated in Peru, Nicaragua and most
recently, Honduras.
A few of the direct results of
PHI’s Salud Para el Pueblo model projects are:
-
A reduction in the incidence rate of diarrheal
diseases in project villages from approximately 25% to one%.
-
A reduction in the rate of cholera in project
villages from approximately 40% to zero.
-
A reduction of the rate of malaria in project
villages from as high as 80% to zero.
-
A reduction of the rate of dengue fever in
project villages from as high as 60% to zero.
-
Change obtaining house-hold water from
unprotected surface sources to properly operated safe domestic water systems.
-
The change from having no household latrines in
a project village to having one latrine per household, inspected weekly.
-
Change the random disposal of household garbage
in a village to weekly collection and disposal at centrally located sanitary
landfills.
-
Change allowing domes-ticated animals like
goats, pigs and chickens to roam freely throughout a village to villages with
loose animal control programs
-
The introduction of basic public health programs
in the lower grades of all project schools.