Church initiated project connecting multiple players for school health screening: An ongoing success story in Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico

Screening for various problems is needed to correct problems that may impede success in school. A team of lay health workers from a group of local churches trained in these screening tests by a US physician sought to initiate this screening in their local school setting. The course of this process is described – finding those who shared a similar interest, finding the key players who had power to help or hinder, creating credibility in their abilities, casting the vision further, and bringing in more participants all within a public school system in Mexico, a country with marked separation of church and state. This pilot project is described and the future plans to expand to all schools in the city of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico along with its challenges are explained. Financial considerations have been a consideration throughout this process and outside, US funds have been used, but with the success of the pilot project, the locally perceived value of this project has helped with the progress towards sustainability. This project also was initially a cooperation between US health providers and Mexican lay providers but now uses predominantly local Mexican providers at all levels, doctors, health providers, parents groups.

With discussion of the success of the pilot project and the further progress of the project, ideas for the use of expatriate helpers in the initiation and initial funding of such faith community based projects can be addressed, as well as key ways of creating unity from diverse secular local groups.