MEDLIFE has completed over 207 projects in Peru and 74 in Ecuador. Many of these projects are either Stair Cases or Hygiene projects, both of which have been a core component of MEDLIFE’s work from the beginning.

The majority of these projects had GPS coordinates saved for them in an archive. We decided to map them to get a sense of the scope of MEDLIFE’s between 2004 and 2017. Included in the map are the locations of most of the staircases, bathrooms, and a few school projects. Keep in mind, around 100 projects are missing from this map because we don’t have the coordinates. Can you find the project from your Mobile Clinic? Look for the year and month of the clinic.

In the steep hillsides of Villa Maria de Triunfo and San Juan De Miraflores, a simple concrete staircase can change lives. Families living in the area have no access to running water and instead are forced to haul buckets back and forth to their houses from large plastic containers filled daily by passing trucks. This task is not only time consuming but incredibly dangerous as the damp winter climate transforms the roads and pathways into slippery, eroding descents.

Adults and children alike are slowed down by the downward climb on their way to school and work, and fall-related injuries are common and costly. By building stairs, MEDLIFE is able to make the cumbersome daily journey easier, safer, and faster. It also is an important step in securing land titles and access to the public water system.

In 2011, The World Health Organization (WHO) declared diarrhoeal diseases to be the second leading cause of death in low-income countries. The WHO and UNICEF estimate that functional, clean bathrooms can reduce cases of diarrhea by more than 33%; simply being able to wash your hands with soap can reduce cases of diarrhea by more than 40%. Yet, for approximately 2.5 billion people, or 35% of the world’s population, there is no functioning bathroom at all. If rural areas do not have functioning facilities, they are slower to be expanded upon and improved.

For MEDLIFE Ecuador, bathroom construction projects are an integral part of the health care work that we do. Projects are typically focused on rural, majority indigenous communities on the outskirts of cities. These areas are geographically isolated from access to reliable potable water and improved sanitation.