Clinic Construction and Public Health Campaigns in the Peruvian Amazon - UNM

For six weeks this summer, Nourish International at the University of New Mexico will be collaborating with Project Amazonas to construct a clinic for communities along the Amazon River and its tributaries in the Peruvian jungle. The clinic will be constructed in the Yagua Indian community of Comandancia on the Rio Orosa. Although Comandancia is only home to about 250 people, approximately 4000 people from other communities along the river will have access to the new clinic. This clinic is an essential addition to the community as the nearest government health clinic lacks basic supplies and is often inaccessible for long periods of time. Land, labor, transportation, and some available materials for the clinic will all be donated by the local community. Locals will be trained in basic construction skills to help build the clinic, and, once completed, the clinic will be owned and maintained by the community. Project Amazonas has been working with the community since 1994 and the decision to proceed with the construction of this clinic was made by local community leaders. Blueprints have already been drawn up and the land has been cleared for construction to commence this summer.

Nourish students will also be involved in a health education program and rural health survey in the local communities. Local health promoters are ill-equipped and cannot adequately care for the health needs of the community. Supplies for these promoters are provided by Project Amazonas whenever possible, but additional funding is required to support the program. Our students will be directly involved with preventative healthcare and health education at community schools. We hope to identify the communities’ various health needs and concerns through surveys and research. With this information, health education and health supplies can be better specialized for the community’s specific needs. It will also pave the way for future health programs in the region and allow us to accurately assess the impact of current and future projects in the Peruvian Amazon.

All funds raised for this project will go towards construction supplies for the clinic, medical supplies for both the clinic and local health promoters, and health education supplies for the community.

What is Nourish International?

Nourish International is a student organization taking college campuses by storm. Founded in 2003 at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Nourish has spread to 24 chapters and over 500 students each year. We strive to both engage students and empower communities in hopes of someday eradicating global poverty. Throughout the school year, students run ventures to raise money to fund community development projects in poverty-stricken communities abroad.

Our unique model of collaboration between students, locally-based organizations, and communities is essential to the success of our projects. As our national office website describes, “Nourish partners with communities who lack the necessary funds and resources for development projects but who have the entrepreneurial vision to eradicate poverty. Our role is not to act as a project manager, but as a catalyst to help accelerate change.”

The UNM chapter was founded in the fall of 2010. In its first year as a chapter, members raised over $11,000 and sent 7 members to Nicaragua to implement their first project. Students worked in communities just outside of Granada to replace or repair faulty roofs on both homes and a schoolhouse, to improve a community water well, and to fix a roadway. Working alongside the Nicaraguans to have a positive impact on their communities was a great success--a success we hope to repeat with our project in the Peruvian Amazon.

What is Project Amazonas?

Project Amazonas is a non-political and non-sectarian NGO that has been working to provide the people of the Peruvian Amazon with adequate, modern healthcare through health education programs. It also seeks to supply the people with the necessary tools to promote sustainable use and conservation of the Amazon Rainforest. Project Amazonas emphasizes self-reliance and self-sufficiency wherever possible, and does not believe in “hand-outs.”