Peru - Global Health, No. 2
Before beginning our work in the community of Kawana Sisa, we heard from community leaders about the people and their hopes for their health.
When working in indigenous communities, piecing together information on individuals and families became difficult at times. This little girls, Carol Vanesa Tuanama Tuanama emerged as a great assistant in finding forms and identifying people.
Following family and individual interviews about their health, animals, illnesses, access to healthcare, and hygiene practices everyone passed through a station where we collected information on their height, weight, head/abdominal measures and whether or not they had lice. Here Ryan Fier, Peter Gunderman, and Kris Devineni work on height and weight.
Each day a new village and each day a long line to get basic healthcare screenings.
It has been great to have Frank Howland on the trip. Shown here in the community of Maray, Frank was very curious about how people used their land and how ownership was determined. He also just loves to learn about the culture of the folks here.
A beautiful little girl from Maray.
Blood and fecal samples we collected being processed by one of the technicians in the lab of Dra. Rosa Giove in Tarapoto. Data from our ongoing project will not only contribute to knowledge of parasitic infections in this area of Peru, but the information will cycle back to the people so that steps can be taken to better their health.
The community of Ishichiwi was a bit more developed than the other two; in the town there was a water reservoir and flush toilets, although not in all the households as seen here. The latrine is separate from the house, which is good; unfortunately, it doesn''t help things when the latrine is positioned uphill of their home.