CPC Navajo Nation Project, New Mexico, USA

Healthabitat OS is working with international partner IWSH Foundation on the 2018 Community Plumbing Challenge (CPC) in the Navajo Nation, USA.

The CPC this year will for the first time adopt the Healthabitat ‘Housing for Health’ methodology, making measured and immediate improvement to 10 houses near Gallup New Mexico. According to CPC project partner Dig Deep, who run the Navajo Water Project;

“nearly 40% of Navajo don’t have a tap or toilet at home”

The aim of the CPC Navajo Nation project is to survey and fix the critical health hardware in these 10 houses, so that families have the ability to wash their kids hands and face frequently; bath and shower children regularly, wash themselves, clean their living space, clean their bedding and clothes and store and prepare foods safely.

We will not be attempting to measure a change in health status with this project. This community has a small population and health status changes slowly. The importance of these healthy living practices and improving health status has been proved many times elsewhere in the world. The surrogate measure of change in health status will be to use the data from the survey-fix to measure the improvements in the functionality of the health hardware in these 10 houses over the week of the CPC.

The CPC Navajo Nation will begin this week with the training of residents to survey and fix the houses, followed by immediate emergency and major fix work by up to 20 plumbers and a team of electricians volunteering from across the US.