Community Health & Nutrition

For rural communities, health and nutrition are intricately linked with farming, food production, income generation, culture and community life.  So Groundswell supports local organizations to improve community health and gain better access to health services.  

Women generally are often the key link between family and childhood health and production, as they are deeply involved in both.  In the Andes, farmers know that Pachamama (mother earth) and must be cared for to maintain soil fertility, and that soil health is directly connected to the level and quality of food production.  Good food and nutrition in turn contributes to healthy families and communities, which are needed to continue the cycle of people living sustainably on the land.  So EkoRural supports local organizations to improve community and reproductive health in marginalized indigenous communities.  In Burkina Faso, women are a storehouse of knowledge on biological diversity and how to keep their children fed during the hungry season, relying on nuts, fruits, leaves and other products from surrounding trees and bushes as well as small livestock they manage.  Groundswell is supporting women’s groups to increase vegetable production for their families and improve their nutritional knowledge and practices.  

In Haiti, Groundswell’s partner organization Partenariat pour le Développement Local (PDL) strengthens local peasant organizations to improve life in rural communities.  In addition to promoting sustainable farming, seed and grain banks, and savings and credit cooperatives, they also help communities to organize “health production committees.”  PDL health staff train local health promoters from the committees, in themes such as reproductive health; prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases; hygiene and sanitation to prevent disease; childhood nutrition; and the production of natural medicines.  The health promoters and committees then survey local needs and develop and implement local action plans to address them.  After the earthquake in January 2010, Haiti was struck another devastating blow when a cholera epidemic broke out in October of that year.  Communities made urgent calls for support to respond to this deadly outbreak, and Groundswell and PDL sprung into action.  Staff coordinated with the community health promoters to organize massive education campaigns for over 1,500 families (9,000 people) to help people understand the cause and prevention of cholera.  People passed on what they learned to others.  The peasant organizations quickly identified cholera cases in their areas, and responded with antibiotics and oral rehydration fluids we provided.  Chlorine was distributed to disinfect water, and through education has become an ongoing practice for over 950 families.  For longer term prevention, we have provided support and training to peasant organizations to launch a campaign to build over 285 latrines and over 180 simple, household water purification filters so far.  As of September 2011, over 439,000 cases of cholera have occurred in Haiti, with over 6,266 deaths.  Even though it works with communities in the heart of the area where cholera broke out, PDL’s effective work has helped local peasant organizations save hundreds of lives, preventing all but a few deaths.