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Cotacachi Democracy in Action: Choosing Good
Health
When
the people of Cotacachi, Ecuador, spoke, Jorge Pazmino was
listening.
Democracy in Cotacachi is very participatory.
At the Nov 2007 community meeting, locals made it known that
greater action regarding
nutrition, especially for pregnant women and children, should be high
on the agenda.
Jorge is the director of nutritional programming at Sol de Vida, a
health
and rehabilitation clinic in Cotacachi. (Sol de Vida has moved to a new
location on Diez de Agosto near the produce market and has been
re-named Cruz Andina. They continue to offer energy healing
treatments at a very small cost.)
With a degree in nutrition, and
a wife who is also a nutritionist, Jorge has been intently focused on
the
health of the people of Cotacachi for some time. Phase I of the
rehabilitation
clinic’s nutritional awareness program began a year ago.

At the direction of the community, Jorge and Pamela wrote the 30-second
to one-minute radio ads, raising public awareness about the role of
good nutrition in living a healthy life. They also worked
with 3
theater groups--16 people in all--writing skits and presenting them to
different groups—schools, barrios, towns and special interest
organizations.
The skits began in September, 2007, and will continue through January,
2008. They are all different, written to appeal to people who
live in the Andes, the subtropics and in cities and are presented in
Spanish and also Quechua.
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Lack of Money and Education
Equals Poor Nutrition
“People
in Ecuador often do not have adequate
vitamins and
minerals in their diet,” says Jorge. “In
rural areas
there is a lack of money and a lack of knowledge about proper
nutrition. The basic diet is monotonous and high
in starches
and
carbohydrates--usually corn, potatoes, beans, rice and some meat and
vegetables.”
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In cities other conditions exist. The
population is also
uneducated about general nutrition. The intake of fast foods,
snacks, packaged sweets, carbonated drinks, even by small children, is
increasing.
According to Jorge, “Numerous
television ads for junk foods
greatly impact the culture and influence eating habits.
The
community realized that there is not enough information about the value
of nutritious, high-quality foods.”
Jorge and Pamela have a big job, because the canton of Cotacachi is the
largest canton in the province, which includes Zona Andina, Zona
Urbana, and Zona Subtropical (Intag).
A Three-Part Plan for Better
Nutrition
Now they are hard at work on Phase 2 of their nutritional program,
which has the following goals:
1. Continue programs of nutritional
education, also emphasizing the importance of organic foods.
2. Identify school children who have
health problems
and work with their teachers to get help for these children.
3. Work with doctors to write dietary
manuals,
suggesting specific foods that can help alleviate certain health
problems.
They will begin in the Intag and later spread throughout the entire
canton. The
democratic process is alive and well in the
village
of Cotacachi!
The inhabitants of Cotacachi take an active part in discussing and
deciding what they want as a group. Then it is the job of
their
leaders to make certain that these wishes are carried out in a
timely
manner. |
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