12 Understanding and mobilizing for Communit y Health
Mobilizing for Environmental Health
After many years of poverty and isolation, the people living on those muddy
hills on the coast of Ecuador were discouraged. They did not know how to
improve their lives. Everyday life was so hard, it was difficult to believe in or
plan for a better future.
By working to solve the immediate health problem — cholera — Gloria and
the health workers of Salud para el Pueblo saved many lives. The success of the
health promoters, local organizations, and the villagers in working together to
stop the epidemic motivated and prepared them to overcome other problems
as well. When the big storm destroyed much of their work, they were able to
organize and recover from the storm’s damage. Then they were able to move on
to solve other problems. Their work to make communities healthier continues,
as they improve present-day conditions and build for the future.
Work to understand root causes
Health problems may be caused by many things:
germs, toxic chemicals,
accidents, hunger,
exposure to extreme
cold or heat, and so on.
These are examples of
immediate causes of
Why did so many
people get sick
with cholera?
Because there
were germs in
the water.
This is a physical
cause of illness.
illness. Illnesses have
many immediate
causes, but they also
have root causes.
Identifying root
causes can help us to
But why
were there
germs in
the water?
identify what we may
need to do to solve the
problem in the long
term. You can see how
using the “But why...?”
activity, as Gloria did
(see page 7), can help
people understand how
a single problem may
have several different
root causes.
Because
we have no
money to
build them.
But why
don’t we
have good
toilets?
This is an economic
cause of illness.
Because we do
not have toilets
that keep
germs out.
This is an
environmental
cause of illness.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012