Website: http://www.empowered.org
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Organization: Global Brigades USA
Program: Public Health Brigades
About Us
PHB at UCSD is a chapter of Global Brigades, the world's largest student-led global health and sustainable development organization. The UCSD chapter systematically works with more than 300 other university groups around the world to deliver and implement one of nine skill-based programs that benefit more than 130,000 Honduran and Panamanian community members annually. The brigade begins with an introduction to the challenges that face community members. The following days the volunteers travel to one of Global Brigades' 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.
UCSD volunteers spend 7 days in Honduras, improving basic home infrastructure and providing health education to help reduce the incidences of life-threatening, but preventable, diseases in a rural community. With an understanding of the holistic model that focuses on education, community health sustainability and infrastructural development, volunteers first receive a comprehensive introduction to the country\\\\\\\'s public health challenges and the Public Health program\\\\\\\'s ground-up solution. They will take a tour of the community Public Health is currently working in, introduce themselves to the beneficiary families, and meet with the Basic Sanitation Committee (CSB). Then, working side-by-side with community members and local masons, volunteers construct four infrastructure projects meant to improve the health of the home and surrounding environment: eco-stoves, latrines, pilas (water storage units), and concrete floors. Additionally, as a key component of the program, UCSD volunteers collaborate with the Basic Sanitation Committee and local teachers to help provide community-wide education workshops and training, proliferating sanitation and hygiene practices and empowering families with both the knowledge and tools to live healthier lives.
