What is a Brigade?
Brigades Def'n. Groups of passionate volunteers who mobilize toward positive social change.
Tangible impact. A one week Public Health Brigade provides volunteers the opportunity to make a tangible impact on the health knowledge and infrastructure within homes of under resourced communities while gaining real-life experience in the field of global public health and international development.
The brigade begins with an introduction to the public health struggles in Central America and the political, economic and geographical challenges that face community members. The following days the volunteers travel to one of Global Brigades’s partner communities to implement health education, meet with community leaders, conduct survey research, and work alongside the community as an international team to construct four health projects; latrines, water storage units, concrete floors, and clean-cooking stoves.
Complementing project construction, students will lead educational workshops for the adults and children of the community surrounding health issues such as basic sanitation and hygiene practices, offering nutritional advice, and basic disease prevention.
The need for rural health interventions is great. Sanitation and hygiene are critical to health, survival, and development. A significant amount of disease could be prevented through better access to adequate sanitation facilities and better hygiene practices. Improved health infrastructure (e.g., latrines and eco-stoves) allow people to live in homes which rather than make them sick, helps break the infection cycle of many diseases. Providing access to safe water and sanitation facilities, and promoting proper hygiene behavior are important in reducing the burden of disease from sanitation and hygiene-related diseases.
Community Health Education. Beyond the construction aspect of the program, Public Health Brigades also provides health education to community. Kid's health education is a dynamic mix of songs, games, and interactive activities designed to teach simple but highly effective health promotion and disease prevention methods, such as handwashing and dental care. Adult and family health education first focuses on the importance, care, and maintenance of the construction projects and then secondly uses this as a jumping-off point to share other critical health concepts, such as treatment of potable drinking water.
Comité de Saneamiento Básico. Twelve members of the community were elected to a form the Basic Sanitation Committee. These volunteers received an intensive training based on UNICEF/Honduran Ministry of Health curriculum on personal hygiene and basic sanitation principles. They are empowered to work within their own communities to be the leaders in spreading preventive health education and take the lead in new health initiatives. Students work directly with the CSB to support them in home visits and special projects.
For more information, see our sample brigade itinerary