On Thursday I went to a lecture concerning international health. I learned about Wuqu Kawoq which is an organization that was started in 2007. They fund projects and provide health care programs, language revitalization, and community development. This organization is for providing care in Guatemala. The main project they talked about was the Guatemala water project. 75% of people from Guatemala use water from the Chichoy River (which is very dirty) and 25% use water from the wells. The goal from this program is to provide a better water system in Guatemala. At first they had several ideas on how they would clean it. The ideas were chlorination, boiling, solar disinfection, clay pot filtration, and sand filtration. After testing how all the ways they found out that sand filtration worked the best and they set up proper filters all over Guatemala. Not only did they build filters, but they gave house evaluations to check to see if the houses fit health inspections.
I think going to this lecture gave me a lot of hope on international health. In class and online we always hear about the problems occurring, but we never hear about the treatments to fix them. To think so many people spend their time and money trying to help resolve the water issues in Guatemala is great. Although there are so many international health problems going on in the world, it’s good to hear about the international health problems being fixed.
It will be interesting to follow up on the problem. The filters will have to be replaced, and that costs more money. If one breaks or malfunctions that would cause problems also. The project seems great on the surface, but the underlying consequences could pose a problem, unless they have that all figured out as well.
ReplyDeleteWuqu Kawoq seems to be doing great work in Guatemala! It is great to hear about more innovative ideas in helping people access clean water. The organization appears to have done their research, so I hope as well that they have prepared for the long-term in supplying replacements and expanding. Another great aspect that you highlight is their variety of projects. The organization has survived for four years, and I sincerely hope that they keep on doing good work for many more!
ReplyDeleteThis organization seems to be doing a great job. Water with food are the basic things that humans needs and trying to provided water for people is a great cause. Also a lot of diseases are passed through water so with this organization cleaning the water, not only are people getting basic needs but are also not being exposed to diseases as much. This in turn will help reduce medical cost while helping families.
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