From the Evil Eye to Handwashing: Volunteers Improving Health in Yemeni Villages
Feb 22 2008
In a country where 70% of women are illiterate and culturally bound to the home, health information is passed from older females to younger ones, and ideas such as the “evil eye” as the cause of most illnesses is generally accepted. Still, women are eager to learn how to improve the health of their families and communities.
Health Systems 20/20 helped Yemeni women set up a network of community health awareness volunteers in Al Jawf and Amran to conduct health awareness sessions with women in their homes on health topics of greatest interest to them. Volunteers hold outreach meetings with women in their communities to disseminate basic health messages aimed at improving the health of children and families. Trainers and volunteers report monthly on their activities and progress and training is evaluated by the USAID-supported Health Systems 20/20 project and the trainers on a regular basis.
Trainers are instructed in how to communicate basic health messages using interactive techniques. These trainers then train community awareness women volunteers to conduct health awareness sessions in women’s homes in their communities focusing. In Al Jawf governorate, 69 volunteer health workers conducted 1,356 sessions in 80 villages during November and December 2007 and 3,082 women from 1,772 households participated in the community health awareness sessions. Results indicate a positive change in health behaviors and health outcomes in the communities, an increase in the use of preventative health measures, and a reported reduction in preventable diseases in households involved in the health awareness sessions.
The project, in collaboration with UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, Yemen LNG Company, and BHS, designed a calendar with basic health messages geared toward Yemeni women. The “Healthy Family Calendar,” distributed to households throughout Yemen in March 2008, is aimed at raising community awareness of priority health issues in Yemen. The calendar contains illustrations and messages on nutrition, hygiene, safe birthing practices, immunizations, breastfeeding, and disease prevention.
The community awareness program builds on the knowledge that involving community leaders and members in health awareness discussions, decisions, and outreach, empowers people to take responsibility for improving the health of their families and community.
Read more about Health Systems 20/20 work in Yemen
Source: Health Systems 20/20
