The Inter-American Health Alliance is a volunteer-run 501(c)3 charitable organization that supports community health organizations working with marginalized populations in the western highlands of Guatemala. We provide financial, technical and organizational support to our partnering organizations
We work to improve access to health care and health education through the development of innovative collaborations between governmental, non-governmental, and educational institutions.
We believe in the power of service-learning and in the potential for sustainable university collaborations to improve health conditions in the communities where we work and to speed access to up-to-date, evidence-based clinical information and medical technologies.
Vanderbilt VISAGE Program comes to Guatemala June 1, 2010
A class of eleven Vanderbilt undergraduate students have been spending the past few weeks working closely with Primeros Pasos. Prior to their visit, the students took a semester VISAGE (Vanderbilt Initiative for Scholarship And Global Engagement) course studying health, development and culture in Guatemala. The culmination of their learning experience was a three week trip to Quetzaltenango and surrounding areas to put their theory into practice and gain some on the ground research experience. Three-four students have been rotating weekly between the clinic, working on development related projects and doing data analysis on 5 years of Healthy Schools Program medical records. In the clinic, the students have been busy helping register patients, participating in the interactive health education classes, visiting schools in the community, revamping the look of the clinic with new coats of paint, and making new teaching materials. On the development side, small groups have been working on projects ranging from website updates & revision to electronic donor campaigns to new promotional materials. Each student is studying Spanish and living with a local Guatemalan family, getting the full cultural experience of Xela! Emily Vieth, a rising Senior at Vanderbilt in the VISAGE says that her experience here “has provided [her] with a lot of insight as to how a NGO and clinic works in a developing country .”
We are thrilled to have these amazing eleven young students working with us and grateful for the incredible contribution they have made to Primeros Pasos!
To read more about Vanderbilt's Global Health Initiatives and the VISAGE Program, visit Vanderbilt Study Abroad.
Five Times Five Hundred is a fundraising campaign to provide sustaining support for Primeros Pasos ("First Steps"), a clinic that provides free health education and clinical care to children in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.
The idea is simple, but effective. A team of 500 sustaining members donating just $5 a month ($5 X 500) can allow Primeros Pasos to meet its annual expenses for its core pediatric Healthy Schools Program.
