ABSTRACT
This chapter provides baseline data for the design of a national health education strategy aimed at reducing the incidence of waterborne diseases. The project’s technical team consisted of five advisers: a health educator, a public health engineer, an environmental sanitarian, an epidemiologist, and an anthropologist. Prior to the project, health education activities had been carried out by a few public health nurses in the Public Health Unit, under the supervision of an expatriate health educator provided by the World Health Organization. Foreign technical advisers usually advise and leave administration to host country officials. The chapter proposes a study of health behavior, beliefs, and attitudes that would rely on rural health motivators (RHMs) as informants. RHMs are individuals, usually women, chosen by their communities to receive about eight weeks of training in preventive health care at a regional clinic. The anthropological contribution to the Rural Water-Borne Disease Control Project was considerable.
