News Blog

In December, BWB received this update from Bethany Golden, co-founder of ICAS/Juntos Adelante, on their Mobile Mural project:

“As we write this update, three large, beautiful mobile murals are touring through the rural and urban health clinics in the highlands of Nicaragua.  Beyond expectation and within budget, the partners in Estelí completed three murals, not just one!

The idea originated in late February, when Dr. Pino, our dear colleague and partner in Nicaragua who heads Estelí’s public health system, lamented, ‘I wish that the murals could be enjoy by more people in the rural areas, and not just those who are able to come downtown. What if we had mobile murals?’  When we heard this, our response was…let’s do it!

Dr. Pino was referring to a complex of murals in fixed structures in the health service network in the urban area of ​​the municipality of Estelí. The murals focus on the subject of health in the municipality of Estelí, with the aim of publicizing the different activities, projects, programs that are being developed and expanded in the Ministry of Health, and framed within the new model of family and community health.  Developed to foster a culture of preventive health in the community, these murals have been effective in increasing the impact of a change to healthier habits in the population who visit these public attention centers to receive care.

This idea of sharing collective art which has a critical social message and derived by community ideals is strong in Nicaragua.  Thanks to our grant from Burners without Borders, Dr. Pino’s wish had been fulfilled by October 31st.  Estelí artist Julio Moreno and his team produced three large vinyl murals showcasing favorite images from the murals at Centro de Salud, the main public health center in Estelí.  Ten people participated in the creation of the murals, which have already been enjoyed by hundreds.

Considering the favorable impact of these murals,  we wanted to share and transport these messages to activities carried out in different sectors, outside the health posts and centers in the urban area.  We want to continue enhancing the visual impact of the murals and reach more sectors of the population and continue generating changes in favorable habits that contribute to improving their quality of life in an integral way and develop in our neighborhoods, communities, and municipalities a level of preventive health culture.  We visualized that the images say more than a thousand words, and we believe educating with images is also providing health, and the murals are fulfilling a didactic and pedagogical function of the process.

The  collaboration between organizations strengthened our work to promote health practices where the importance of living in healthy lifestyles is visualized, with an adequate and timely diagnosis that allows our women men, girls, children and the elderly to be subjects of a life of quality and prevent unnecessary deaths.

The Mobile Murals will be in perpetual use by the Health department as they make weekly visits to rural areas, and they will inspire healthy living and appreciation for the beauty of communal values such as universal health access, healthy food choices, and maintaining wellness.”