Migrant Health Promotion

Migrant Health Promotion bases all of its work on close collaboration with community members ("Promotores and Promotoras") who improve the health of their communities with community-based health education and activities. Promotores(as) are community members who promote health in their own communities. They provide leadership, peer education and resources to support community empowerment, or capacitación. As members of minority and underserved populations they are in a unique position to build on strengths and to address unmet health needs in their communities. Promotores(as) integrate information about health and the health care system into the community's culture, language and value system, thus reducing many of the barriers to health services. They provide peer education, support and links to services. They also help make health care systems more responsive. With the appropriate resources, training and support, Promotores(as) improve the health of their communities by linking their neighbors to health care and social services, by educating their peers about disease and injury prevention, by working to make available services more accessible and by mobilizing their communities to create positive change.

The mission of Migrant Health Promotion is to strengthen the capacity of farmworker and migrant families to live healthy lives within healthy communities.

Migrant Health Promotion's work improves the health of farmworkers and rural communities in multiple ways.

Examples of successful programs include:

*Eye Safety in the Field: The percentage of farmworkers wearing safety glasses at work increased from less than one percent to more than 26 percent at the worksites served by Promotores(as) in Michigan. Results from pre- and post-intervention surveys indicate that farmworkers who received training from the Promotores(as) were more likely to wear safety glasses and more likely to answer questions about eye health and safety correctly when compared to control groups. These results are statistically significant.

*Maternal and Child Health: In 2003, 97 percent of pregnant farmworker women from five community health centers in Michigan received prenatal care. In comparison, only 61.5 percent of Michigan Hispanic women received adequate care in 2002.

*Mental Health: In 2002, Promotores(as) in Colorado, Michigan and North Carolina provided education, referrals and emotional support to farmworkers with mental health, substance abuse and related concerns. They conducted a pre- and post-season survey to evaluate the impact of the Salud Para Todos Program on farmworkers' stress and depression levels. Results of the survey demonstrate that 73 percent of the farmworkers increased their knowledge about stress and depression and that 60 percent decreased their levels of stress.

*Health Insurance: In 2003, four Promotoras helped over 500 Texas families apply for or renew CHIP and Children's Medicaid coverage for their children, and they reached over 1,000 families with important information about insurance coverage and preventive health care.

*Through the REACH Promotora Community Coalition, 18 full-time and four seasonal Promotoras working in the Rio Grande Valley recorded 6,175 health encounters with over 1,000 community members in 2002. Their activities included educational classes, healthy cooking demonstrations, physical activity sessions and other accessible activities designed to prevent and control diabetes. Partipants increased their intake of fruits and vegetables by seven times per week and increased the number minutes per week they spend walking or exercising. The program has also achieved policy and environmental changes in the Valley.