Health education: an experience in rural communities of Manabí, Ecuador

Abstract

Health is a very important issue for every human being. A person with deteriorated health can’t study, work and enjoy thoroughly of his/her life. Right to health is a fundamental right of every human being. Rural marginal zones of region Manabí inhabitants suffer serious difficulties in access of health services, for different reasons. With the objective of improve health access, we realized a training to 14 communities in order to introduce First Aid Kits with essential palliatives medication.
As an alternative choice to improve access to health services, we promote an educational training of 14 rural communities, in order to bring in medicine and first-aid kits. The process has made considering the perspective of Participatory action research, Popular Education, Gender and the last, but not the least the perspective of human rights, as first requirement for its development.
The educational process successfully concluded with empowerment of 12 Health Promoters and with the respective assignment of first-aid kits. It’s recommended to accomplish others activities to follow the project up, for example: an evaluative study, workshops to review, amplify and update the matters. Finally it would be important to replicate the process in these close communities that was excluded in this first phase.