Shuar Health Project - Safe Water & Sanitation

“Shuar Health” began in the summer of 2005 after UCB student Lia Marshall volunteered in the Pastaza Province of Ecuador with several indigenous Shuar, and was invited back to collaborate on ways to improve Shuar Health. Through the Cal Undergraduate Public Health Coalition (Cal UPHC), ten students formed a multi-disciplinary team in Fall 2005 and designed community projects and a research proposal to address malnutrition, safe water and sanitation, and other health needs in Shuar indigenous communities.

The students’ efforts over the next year included teaching a course on indigenous health in the Amazon and securing funding through university competitions. These awards enabled eight undergraduates to implement their research and pilot study projects with Shuar communities in Ecuador during June-August of 2006 in order to determine the best way to support the Shuar. The result was an overwhelming need for clean water and sanitation as a mechanism for improving Shuar quality of life.

The 'SHP' as it became known, grew to include engineers, who were instrumental in implementing rain-water harvesting tanks in ten Shuar communities in the Summer of 2007. A group of 15 students participating in the DeCal course helped with health education and many returned to be part of the core team to continue with the 2007-2008 plans to construct eco-latrines in the Shuar communities as a way to also improve sanitation, aside from clean drinking water.

For their efforts this past year, the team recently was awarded the United Nations Organization Global Citizen Award for a group project.

In the summer of 2008 a team of 14 Berkeley students conducted water-quality tests on rainwater-harvesting tanks constructed during the previous year. During this trip SHP also collaborated with two Shuar families in different communities to pilot two eco-san latrine designs at the household level. Pilots were evaluated during the Winter 2008-09 trip. For more information regarding the results of these trips please download the trip reports from the "Progress Report" section.

Summer 2009 is a large step for the Shuar Health Project, with plans to construct ~20 household latrines in a Shuar community (about 2/3 of the community will be receiving a latrine). During this time, SHP is also conducting household education sessions, topics including hygiene, sanitation, disease transmission (focusing on the fecal-oral cycle) and proper latrine use and maintenance.

In the winter of 2009-10, the project will focus on the evaluation of the composting process and maintenance and use.

Project mission:

I. Improve equitable access to safe water through sustainable and desirable technologies.

II. Improve equitable access to sanitation through sustainable and desirable technologies.

III. Cultivate an ethic of healthy sanitation and hygiene practices through collaborative health education programs.

Potential impact:

I. Provide 1,000 Shuar people with safe water by designing, testing, and implementing appropriate point of use technologies.

II. Reduce the morbidity and mortality rates due to water-borne diseases in Pastaza, Ecuador.

III. Empower the Shuar people with the skills and knowledge necessary to sustainably address community needs that they previously could not resolve.

IV. Allow Berkeley students to develop the skills to make a positive difference in our local and global communities by integrating Research, Education, Action, and Leadership.

V. Create a model for sustainable student/community projects with positive outcomes

Required resources:

1. Total project needs: $20,278
2. In-kind contribution needs: airplane tickets (frequent flier miles), rainforrest/backpacking equipment, research materials
3. Other:

   The majority of our costs are airplane tickets to send our team to the project site. Therefore, any donations of frequent flier miles or plane tickets are greatly appreciated!

Our sponsors:

Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH)
Big Ideas (Chancellor’s Office)
Blum Center for Developing Economies (Safe Water and Sanitation Group)
Center for Entrepreneurship in International Health and Development
School of Public Health