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July 15

public health, Seattle and Nicaragua

During my trip to Nicaragua this March and April, I stayed with my Seattle friends Carla Miranda and Matias Valenzuela. Matias was on a 6-month Fulbright scholarship teaching communications at the Universidad Centroamericana (Central American University) in Managua. The newsletter of his employer in Seattle, the public health department, ran an interview with him about his work there.

The Health Beat • June 20, 2007 • Newsletter for the Employees of Public Health - Seattle & King County

From Public Health to Nicaragua and back

Through the first half of 2007, Matías Valenzuela, Public Education Coordinator and member of Public Health's Communications Team, was on leave and working abroad as a Fulbright Professor at the Central American University in Managua, Nicaragua.

What can you tell us about Nicaragua?

Nicaragua is the poorest country in the hemisphere, after Haiti, with a recent history that has included a long dictatorship and a revolution. As you can imagine, there are enormous needs here, in the areas of education, health and economic development. But at the same time, there is a rich culture – plus, many Nicaraguans are fiery and have a keen sense of justice.

What are you doing there?

I have been teaching communications, mainly focusing on communications and development, social change and health. I've also been doing curriculum development and instructor trainings. The main place where I've worked is the Central American University, but I've done presentations and courses at five other universities around the country.

I've also worked outside of the universities. For example, I'm getting ready to go to a remote, mountainous area of the country, and I will work with radio journalists who don't have any formal communications training. They're jacks of all trades, providing local and national news, educating the community about all kinds of issues, disc jockeying and entertaining, and then they fix the radio equipment when it breaks down. Between local news and a song, they may say, "Lupita, your mama says that your brother is sick. Come home with medicines, and bring some soap and salt while you're at it." I will be working with these community radios on ways to communicate strategically and carry out public communication campaigns.

Any interesting moments during your work there?

There are many. During a segment on risk communication for a course I taught to professors and public health professionals at the school of medicine in the city of León, I asked participants, "What kinds of emergencies, both in health and natural, have you personally responded to?" When they replied, the list never ended: volcanic eruptions and evacuations, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, outbreaks of cholera, dengue, malaria, measles and environmental hazards such as pesticide poisonings. I wanted to turn the class around and have them talk to me about their experiences, but I had to proceed with the course.

I've also been working with a group of professors on food security. The government has a program called Hambre Cero, or zero hunger, aimed at addressing poverty and malnutrition. In King County there's the link between poverty and obesity, while in Nicaragua it's poverty and undernourishment. But you see many of the same issues: economic opportunity, food production and supplies, public policies and education.

And during your free time?

My wife is Nicaraguan, and I worked as a journalist here years ago, so it has been good to reconnect with old friends and family. Whenever I get the chance, I try to swim in one of the country's beautiful crater lakes or hike a volcano.

Matías returns to Public Health in July.