Project Launch:

In the desert community of San Jose, Peru, a group of mothers from the community and a local Peace Corps Volunteer, plan to conduct a series of educational sessions for 46 families on health topics including hand washing, proper maintenance of domestic animals, water treatment, and trash management. Following the sessions, each of the families will be given improved cook stoves and ecologically efficient bathrooms, both of which are designed to reduce the community's abnormally high rates of acute respiratory illness, chronic diarrhea, intestinal worms, and other illnesses. The regional health post will monitor baseline health indicators and regular home visits by the Vaso de Leche group will ensure that the new cook stoves and bathrooms are working properly.