What is Public Health Brigades?
Public Health Brigades is an international network of passionate students and professionals that work together to identify community health threats and implement public health solutions in rural communities. Our mission is to empower rural Honduran communities to prevent common illnesses through in-home infrastructural development, community leader training, and health education.

Who participates in a Public Health Brigade?
College students of all interests and academic disciplines participate in Public Health Brigades, ranging from Pre-Health to International Relations to Communications. Passion and dedication are the most important requirements for our brigaders. The Public Health staff and community members also work alongside students throughout the brigade in order to successfully construct the four projects and help educate the community on their assigned health or sanitation topic.

How are communities chosen?
Communities are selected after reviewing the reports from our in-country Research & Evaluation team and talking with potential partner communities. Factors such as health and economic need, community buy-in, and location are just a few of the indicators used in the selection. Public Health Brigades concentrates on communities with an established Global Brigades presence and work closely with other programs, like Water Brigades and Microfinance Brigades, to perpetuate our holistic development model.

What are the main public health challenges in rural Honduras?
The health situations in most rural Honduran homes are dismal, with many traditional practices contributing to illness. Common, preventable illnesses, such as respiratory diseases, skin infections, body aches, stomach ailments, and diarrhea, can often be traced back to certain conditions and behaviors in the home. Poor hygiene practices remain common, and flawed waste disposal practices pose great environmental and sanitary risk. Families cook for hours, without any ventilation, on traditional stoves that emit toxic levels of carbon dioxide and ash. Most homes do not have proper latrines, forcing the families to defecate outside—perhaps near water sources or food crops. Lack of proper water storage facilities makes it difficult to perform simple sanitation practices, such as hand washing, and the poorly maintained, stagnant water may provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other insects that carry diseases, like Malaria and Dengue Fever.

In many rural communities, children learn to crawl and walk in homes with bare dirt floors, which increases the incidence of parasitic infection often associated with diarrheal disease, skin infections, and respiratory illness. Dirt floors also aid in the transmission of Chagas, a potentially fatal disease spread through insects that burrow in the ground and in adobe bricks. Along with poor conditions in the home, there also exists an underdeveloped concept of preventative health on a community-wide scale.

How does Public Health Brigades address those challenges?
The goal of Public Health Brigades is to connect students with communities to implement sustainable, community-based solutions to address these health needs. This is accomplished through a holistic model that addresses three methods of prevention: health education, community health sustainability, and in-home infrastructure development. Through education, preventative strategies are promoted to improve quality of life and prevent the spread of diseases by means of short health workshops in the schools and strong partnership with teachers within the community. The Public Health Brigades team trains and empowers local community leaders in the formation of the Basic Sanitation Committee, which works with the Water Council (established by Water Brigades), to act as long-term, sustainable solutions to the maintenance of a healthy community. Finally, students help build basic in-home infrastructure as a method of disease prevention in the form of four projects: latrines, eco-stoves, water storage units (“pilas”), and concrete floors, to address the community’s health and sanitation needs.

What does the student or group do to prepare for a Public Health Brigade?
We recommend that groups have regular meetings to familiarize their members with a Public Health Brigade and the work they will be doing. The “Project Preparation” page on the Student Resource Site provides recommended meeting ideas and links to additional resources regarding Honduras and global and local sanitation issues. Reading through these or carrying out further research surrounding these topics is highly recommended in order to attain basic background information prior to the brigade. Another important aspect of preparing for a brigade involves designing and practicing the lesson plan and activities for the educational component, which could involve creating posters and other visual aides. Also, since Public Health Brigades are based on community interaction and participation, some rudimentary Spanish vocabulary would be useful, although not required.

Do I need construction experience?
Nope! Though construction experience comes in handy, local masons and your Brigade Coordinator will teach you all the necessary skills and techniques you will need during the brigade. It will be helpful, however, to become familiar with the four infrastructure projects through the construction manuals provided on the Student Resource Site.

What does the PHB team do to prepare for a Public Health Brigade?
The community-wide projects of Public Health Brigades require a lot of preparation prior to students arriving in Honduras. From the beginning, relationships are fostered with local government officials, community leaders, and families to ensure that the necessary support and community buy-in exist for Public Health Brigades efforts. General assemblies are held to facilitate collaboration between Public Health Brigades and the community, and to highlight community needs and the ways in which Public Health Brigades will address those needs. Throughout the preparation period and thereafter, individual home visits are conducted to meet every family. These home visits allow PHB staff to more intimately analyze living situations and devise individualized plans for development, while providing one-on-one time for questions, education, and follow-up. The team also meets with the teachers of the community to create a list of health topics deemed as high priority, and works to develop a curriculum for the education workshops.

What does the community do to prepare for a Public Health Brigade?
Several weeks in advance, the community engages in a number of activities to prepare for a Public Health Brigade. Families are educated on what is expected of them and know what is required well before we enter with students and masons. In terms of labor, families are responsible for helping coordinate materials delivery to their home, digging the septic hole for the latrine, clearing out their home and preparing the floors for concrete laying, and providing 3-4 people for work with students on days of construction. Families are also required to make a financial contribution as well. Those that need assistance in paying for their Public Health Projects, are able to take out a low-interest micro-loan from the rural bank (‘caja rural’) established by Microfinance Brigades prior to our entrance into a community.

How is the Basic Sanitation Committee formed and who are its members?
Members of the Basic Sanitation Committee are democratically elected by the rest of the community at a general assembly meeting. While the Public Health Team provides training and technical assistance, community members are fully responsible for the formation and continued functions of the Basic Sanitation Committee. Committee members make monthly in-home visits to ensure the projects are being properly cleaned and maintained, host community clean-up days, aid in the education workshops, and serve as role models and health liaisons within the community.

What kind of interaction will I have with the community?
A unique feature of Public Health Brigades is the intimate student-community interaction. Students will have lots of opportunities to immerse themselves in rural Honduran culture, as well as communicate directly with each family they are working with. Often times, by the end of the week, brigade groups feel a very strong connection to the family that they have been working with—and the family to the students—and want to maintain a relationship with them. If students would like to send pictures or letters, they can contact their coordinator about where to send it and how it will be delivered to the family.

Where do the funds I raise go?
Your in-country costs are split between several areas such as food, lodging, transportation, and staffing. $100 is put toward the Community Investment Fund (CIF), which is used for purchasing supplies for the four infrastructure projects, hiring local mason, and evaluation and follow-up. The complete breakdown can be seen here.

Is there a minimum for groups?
All public health brigades in Honduras require a minimum of 15 volunteers to run properly. Brigades sizes that have at least 15 volunteers are more effective and can contribute more to the projects.

Is this safe?
The safety of the student volunteers is Global Brigades’ number one priority and is the single most important consideration when entering a community or choosing a project. Each country that Global Brigades serves in has implemented safety protocols and policies to decrease any risk of danger and to ensure that any emergency can be properly handled in a prompt and professional manner. For more information on safety precautions, emergency procedures and insurance information please visit the safety section of the Student Resource Site.

This sounds great! How do I get involved!
First, find out if your school has a Public Health Brigades chapter that you can join by locating it on the interactive map on our homepage. If your school does not have a chapter, contact the Public Health Program Advisor Alexandra Bornhoft at alexandra@globalbrigades.org, and check out the step-by-step process involved in starting a club.