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From Nicaragua: Working with community health workers to reduce vector borne diseases

June 5, 2013



UC Davis Veterinary students and Community Health
Workers from Sabana Grande, Nicaragua engage in
discussions about Vector Borne disease
awareness and prevention.
We conducted our first One Health workshop today in the rural community of Sabana Grande in northwestern Nicaragua! One of the poorest areas in the country.

Believing that education is the most sustainable form of community development, we have, for the past months, been working to develop the best strategies for leading discussions between animal health care workers (the "veterinary promoters") and human health care workers (the "brigadistas") within the community of Sabana Grande.



Veterinary student Leah Colyer (left) and Community
Health Worker Reyna Isabel Lopez Rizo (right)
discuss their concerns about the availability of water
treatment products rural Nicaragua.
The two groups of community workers had recently formed a "Health and Welfare Cooperation", facilitated by our Public Health collaborator, Haley McDermott, MPH. The cooperation has created a continuous dialogue between animal and human health workers, allowing them to more thoroughly address the most critical and many health problems facing the community.

Today, the topic of discussion was Vector Borne Diseases: Dengue Fever, Malaria, Chagas Disease and Hypoderma Bovis.

There were 8 members of the Health and Welfare Cooperation present, and 9 students from UC Davis. We designed the workshops to be an exchange of information (rather than a didactic lecture), with an eye towards developing a sound platform for the future.


Veterinary students Carolina Vicario (left) and
Ryen Morey (right) lead a discussion about mosquito
borne illnesses and the importance of proper water storage and treatment.

The goal of the workshop was to provide tools for the community health workers to better be able to disseminate vital information about disease prevention to the rest of their community. The discussion was invigorating! The three hours that we had allotted went by in a flash, as both the community members and students were enthusiastic and engaged.

Although many questions raised within the discussion were not immediately solved, we have built a solid framework for the future that will allow for ongoing communication, interdisciplinary collaboration and creative problem solving for the community of Sabana Grande and students at UC Davis.


Fiona Whitton, Graduate Student, Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis

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