HEALTH TRAINING: HEALTH PROMOTER PRACTITIONERS

Health Promoter Practitioner training is one of the largest components of Concern America's programs abroad, and it is a good illustration of its philosophy of development. Many of the communities in which Concern America works have no trained health workers whatsoever, and the nearest health facility is often hours away. The simplest solution might appear to be to send a doctor, nurse or public health specialist to serve the community; but clearly this is not a long-term solution leading to self-sufficiency. Instead, Concern America concentrates on sending health/public health professionals to train local people, often selected by their community, to become primary health care workers, known as Health Promoter Practitioners because their role is to educate people to prevent as well as to treat illness; the training also includes midwives who focus on women's health needs.

These promoter practitioners and midwives usually have little formal education and no background in health care work. They are taught basic information about the causes and treatments of common illnesses, including the use of basic medicines. Often, they are helped to start a self-sustaining community medicine dispensary, making the basic medicines they have studied available at low cost to community members.

An integral part of this health training is leadership formation and community organization, leading to local participation in the creation of societal structures that meet the needs of the people themselves. This approach recognizes that in order to create truly healthy communities, in addition to health care and education, one must also address socioeconomic, environmental, and political forces.

The following quote from a recent visitor to one of Concern America's health training projects is a good illustration of the amazing work of Health Promoter Practitioners.

You can find more stories and information on Concern America's Health Promoter Practitioner model by clicking HERE.


Asthma Treatment in Guatemala
by Michael Gilbert, M.D., Orange, California

“Both times I have traveled to Las Cruces, small moments help me remember the importance in the small details of patient care. I have learned to practice better medicine by observing the level of quality delivered at the Las Cruces Clinic.

“Eva, a Health Promoter Practitioner multiplier, was seeing a young fellow with a cough and a fever. She correctly diagnosed asthma, correctly prescribed the appropriate medications. This is extraordinary in itself, as she is a young local villager. That would have been the end of it for this patient had he been in the States. He would have gotten his prescription and been sent on his way.

“She took the next step [following the protocols used in the Health Promoter Practitioner training she received]. She cut off the top of a plastic coke bottle, carefully trimmed the edges, and taped these edges. She then taped the inhaler to the small end of the bottle, the end out of which one would drink. After constructing this “aero-chamber” she demonstrated its use to the boy and his mom, and had him demonstrate back to her its use. This attention to detail is the single most important factor in ensuring this child will improve. This is the essence of good medicine. This is the reason we need to support these people in their work.”