Global Health Education in Guatemala ODU Health Sciences Spring Break Study Abroad 2014.
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Transcript of Global Health Education in Guatemala ODU Health Sciences Spring Break Study Abroad 2014.
Global Health Education
in GuatemalaODU Health Sciences
Spring Break Study Abroad 2014
ODU Health Sciences & Global Health“Building Happy, Healthy Lives”
Overview Trip Summary Global Health Discussion
ChallengesRisk Factors in
GuatemalaNon-Communicable/
Communicable Diseases
GuatemalaEnvironmentCultural PracticesOccupationGender RolesEducation
Nutrition Healthcare
BarriersWorkersEducation
Service WorkCorazon de los Niño’sExperiences and
Observations
Extracurricular Fun!
Trip Summary: Service Work La Corazon de los Niño's
“We are an organization that generates economic, material and human resources, promoting continuous staff training, and developing programs for health and education.”
Project HEART: serving 10 communities around Antigua and over 12,000 people.
Taught hand and dental hygiene to schoolchildren
Delivered fruits and vegetables to a poor community
Provided assessments, diagnoses and provision of medicine to the people of vulnerable communities
Trip Summary: Extra Activities
La Union Spanish School: 2 hour Spanish lessons with personal instructors
Salsa and Marangue lessons
Tour of a Hospital in Antigua
Attended lectures on health in
Guatemala
Visited a Coffee Plantation
Hiked Volcan Pacaya
Weekend at Lake Atitlan: touring, boat ride and zip lining!
Introduction to Global Health Improved quality, quantity, and overall
health in the last 50 years worldwide.
Extended life expectancy: 20 year increase
Reduction of child mortality due to vaccines, access to safer water, and improved sanitation
Purification systems for water, hand washing, and access to safe water have reduced the sanitation crisis
HIV and AIDs innovations due to preventative measures
Global Health Challenges Poverty
Global health action is dependent upon a country’s development, security, and public health availability.
Infectious disease: Accountable for approximately 19% of global deaths
Access to health care
Inadequate transportation
Poor medical staff availability
Health Risk Factors in Guatemala Pneumonia
Influenza
Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disorder
Urinary Tract Infections
Malnutrition
Non-Communicable Diseases According to WHO, 80% of deaths related to non-
communicable diseases occur in low to middle income countries
Risk factors for Guatemala:
Tobacco smoking
Physical inactivity
Indoor cooking
Hypertension
High blood sugar and cholesterol
Obesity
Communicable Diseases There is a high risk for infectious disease in
Guatemala
The highest risks: (especially for travellers)
Bacterial Diarrhea
Hepatitis A
Typhoid Fever
Dengue Fever
Malaria
Environment Guatemala is a very
ruggedly beautiful country.
Volcan Pacaya
Lake Atitlan
Guatemala’s mountainous terrain makes it hard to grow crops for produce purposes, contributing to the people’s malnutrition.
Some of the villages are very remote, making access to healthcare difficult.
Cultural Practices
Dancing: Salsa and Meringue
Music: Marumba
Futball
Celebration of Holy Week: Easter parade through the streets of Antigua .
Guatemalan dress rooted in their Mayan culture
Huipil: blouse
Cortex: skirt
Tzute: shawl and for carrying children or objects
Occupation Tourism was the main
occupation we experienced
Tiendas (stores) on every corner
Men, women, and children involved
Our tourism experiences first hand:
Coffee plantation
Zip-lining
Shopping and Tasting
Injuries of the locals all seem to present the same, it was some form of a strain, either it was in the wrist, hands, shoulders, and even back
Many people work in large factories.
Gender Roles Women:
Primary Role as Caregiver: cook, clean and maintain the family.
Less education and salary
Men
Work and provide for the family
Alcoholism is a huge issue.
Education Mandatory and free Primary
School for ages 7-13
4/10 will complete primary school: Lowest primary school completion rate in Central America
Optional and free Secondary School for 3-5 years
College attendance is rare because most children must work to contribute to the family due to poor economics
Nutrition The Guatemalan diet is
based on corn and beans.
We enjoyed sampling the different styles of local cuisine.
Service Work:
We delivered vegetables to women and children in a poor village.
They had to attend a presentation on nutritional eating in order to receive the vegetables.
Barriers to Healthcare Only 2.5% of Guatemalan’s
Gross Domestic Profit (GDP) is spent on healthcare
Lack of education and preventative medicine
Lack of access to healthcare and facilities
1 doctor for every 10,000 people
45 hospitals in Guatemala. There should be 300 hospitals to
account for the population
Healthcare Workers
Guatemalan health care workers here are religious, institutional, and program based.
Community focused and skills are passed from generation to generation.
The main focus is to
educate the matriarchs due to their role in the family.
Healthcare Education Education is important
to improve healthcare in many local villages.
Licensed medical professionals teach local women about basic first aid, nutrition, and hygiene.
Teaching is focused towards the women/mother’s of families as they are the primary caregivers
Corazon de los Niño's Non profit organization founded in 1991 using
human, physical, material and legal resources to help achieve goals through health and education programs
Resources offered Nutritional Education
Early stimulation
Preschool Education
Health and Health Promotion
Basic health services such as medical attention,
dental, psych, laboratory and pharmacy
Targeted Population Women for empowerment Children and adolescence
Corazon de los Niño’s Headquarters: Limited Resources with only
necessities
1 Doctor, 1 Lab Technician, 1 Pharmacist, 1 Dentist, 1 Pharmacologist
Farming Technique Education
Mobile Clinic:
Truck: 3 assessment tables in the back of a truck with poor privacy and limited space
Community Center assessment rooms were dirty
Our gowns and caps were saved for both days, gloves were cleaned with alcohol. All other supplies were personally owned.
Antigua Hospital Local Hospital:
Donation run
Nurse/Patient Ration 7:1
OR facility, mental health services and long term care
Majority of supplies not disposable
Observed nurses folding laundry and cleaning
Service Work Nutrition teaching and vegetable distribution
Educated women in a local village on health benefits of vegetables
Allows for women empowerment
Improve diet and nourishment of children and families
Health Promotion teaching: Taught basic hand hygiene and dental hygiene at a local elementary school
Prevent infection
Mobile clinic to surrounding villages
Check for lice
Blood Pressure checks and teaching
Address pressing health concerns
Pharmacy
Health Care Service Work We provided mobile clinics to two poorer villages
Vital Signs, Weight, Head to Toe Assessments
Prescribed medications, gave education for medication administration and free medications.
Health and the Guatemalan Culture
Respiratory Issues: Cook indoors
over open fires and pollution
Nutrition:
Corn tortillas considered
nutritious because they provide
the feeling of fullness for a low cost.
Acidic diet leading to gastric reflux
Breastfeeding: Common and culturally acceptable
Issue of proper maternal
nutrition
Health and Guatemalan Culture
Personal Hygiene:
Lice
Poor water and sewage system
Knowledge and Resource Deficit
Mother of sick toddler giving him coffee for dehydration
Dental Hygiene in Guatemala Severe decay to where the crown of the tooth
has fallen out and patient reports pain
Periodontal disease with tooth mobility
Baby bottle tooth decay
Global Health Research Review Background: Pneumonia causes more child deaths than any other disease. Smoke
from household solid fuel affects half the world’s children.
Methods: Parallel randomized controlled trial of 534 households in Guatemala in a population using open indoor wood fires for cooking. Half received a woodstove w/chimney (n=269) and half remained as controls using open wood fires (n=265). The homes were visited every week until children reached 18 months to record health statuses. Primary outcome was physician-diagnosed pneumonia.
Findings: Over 29,125 weeks, there were 149 cases of child pneumonia in intervention households & 180 cases in controls. The chimney stove reduced exposure by 50%.
Interpretation: Physician-diagnosed pneumonia for children below 18 months was not reduced significantly, but the reduction of a third in severe pneumonia could have implications for reduction of child mortality. The significant exposure-response associations contribute to causal interference and suggest that stove or fuel interventions producing lower exposures than these chimney stoves are needed to substantially reduce pneumonia in these populations.
Global Health Research Review In Guatemala, we got to visit people in their
homes and see their indoor wood fires in use.
Women and children had the worst respiratory ailments; wheezing could be heard from several feet away.
A similar study would absolutely benefit the health of the Guatemalan people.
Giving Fruits and Vegetables
“I have always wanted to make a difference in others lives by
traveling to those less fortunate, but I never realized how much this experience would make a
difference in my own life.”
-- Tara Liske
“It humbled my opinions on poverty by getting to be a part of their lives for even such a short
time... Despite all of their struggles they are some of the
happiest and most upbeat people I’ve ever met.” –Lindsey Northup
Mobile Clinics
“It was the most life changing experience I have
ever been a part of. Yes because I got to do once in
a lifetime things, like zip line, but most importantly because I was able to see
the reality of the world and help those less fortunate.
All of the faces I saw and all of the warm hands I
touched will forever hold a special place in my heart.
-- Amanda Frederick
“My experiences with working in the local clinics with residents
from the different villages have truly influenced my perspective
on global health. This experience has ultimately
taught me the importance of confidence, compassion, and flexibility in the nursing field.”
“Life-changing and fun!The ultimate community service experience.”
--Soonja Heber
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the
smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
- Leo Buscaglia
Hand Hygiene Education
Dental Hygiene Teaching
“Going to Guatemala and participating in this study abroad program opened my eyes to several world issues that I would have never
been exposed to if I had not made the decision to go on this trip. My experience in Guatemala was a humbling, learning experience that I
will never forget and will forever cherish.”
--Katie Babb
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived
and lived well.”
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lake Atitlan!
Ziplining!
Salsa Lessons!
Volcan Pacaya
Thank you!
Extra…..
Video 3:36
Mobile clinic working day in Guatemala http://youtu.be/kOpY3qO1Jc8
Video 0:33
Mrs. Hawkins zip-lining in beautifully scenic Atitlan http://youtu.be/NQgLG6vjM5E