An Ounce of Prevention

I taught 20 barefoot doctors this week, and I tried a new technique developed in South Africa for illiterate adults. I presented a picture of a specific health issue. Then I asked a group of four or six people to discuss their answers to the following six questions: 1) What is happening in the picture? 2) What is the main issue or disease? 3) Why is this happening? 4) Does this happen in your village? 5) What causes the problem? 6) What can we do about it?

The first picture showed a dilapidated house without an outhouse. One child had intestinal worms while another made a bowel movement in the bushes next to the house. The following picture showed a creek near the village. One person washed his clothes in the stream while another boy urinated into it. Downstream, a woman filled a water jug from the creek. The pictures provoked much discussion. Each group drew up a plan to solve the problem.

By week's end, we discussed 32 different problems depicted on the charts. The topics ranged from health issues to agriculture, money, housing, and education. The barefoot doctors were anxious to return to their villages and use the charts to teach the people.

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