Public Health Educator

Rural communities in the Peruvian Andes face persistent health challenges, including high rates of malnutrition and adolescent pregnancy. Local health posts, schools, and municipal offices are looking for support to implement.

Across the Andes, chronic malnutrition, anemia, and adolescent pregnancy remain elevated due to poverty, limited access to nutritious foods, parasitic infections, poor sanitation, and constrained health services—conditions that disproportionately affect rural and Indigenous families. These challenges are further intensified by Peru’s fragile rural health infrastructure, where many posts operate in deteriorating facilities with outdated equipment, but the deeper weaknesses stem from chronic underinvestment: limited training, few incentives to retain skilled staff, frequent turnover, and low‑quality data systems that hinder planning and follow‑up. Culturally tailored tools are also scarce in the Andean regions, leaving care misaligned with local needs. While multisectoral programs have made progress, the most isolated Andean communities still face significant gaps. External support from our Volunteers helps fill these gaps by providing targeted training, strengthening data and monitoring systems, and adapting interventions to local languages and cultural contexts—extending the reach and effectiveness of proven strategies where government services remain overstretched.

As a Public Health Educator, you will work with health workers to strengthen the knowledge, behaviors and skills of mothers and health-care providers to reduce anemia and malnutrition. You will also strengthen the capacity of school and health personnel to deliver health education activities and services for young people. By doing this, you will help improve nutritional status, lower anemia rates, and reduce teenage pregnancies through a long-term, sustainable approach.

Associate degree in any field and at least two years of full-time, post-high school work experience (from any combination of roles).
OR
Bachelor's degree in any field.
OR
High school diploma or GED and four years of full-time, post-high school work (from any combination of roles).

Volunteers will typically live with a host family in small- to mid-sized towns, with access to schools and small businesses. Living arrangements may include a private room within a host family’s home or a private space on a family compound. Currently, Volunteers live in Peru’s Ancash, Cajamarca, Junín, and La Libertad regions. Volunteers can expect basic amenities, limited internet access, and frequent travel by foot, bicycle, or public transport.

Deepen your expertise in child and maternal health care, adolescent health, and effective classroom management strategies.
Receive 120+ hours of Spanish language training and develop your proficiency through daily conversations with Peruvians.
Gain hands-on experience supporting a South American health care system while contributing to efforts addressing malnutrition and adolescent pregnancy.

Conduct a series of educational sessions for pregnant women and mothers of children under 5.
Support a series of house visits to pregnant women and mothers of children under 5.
Train community health promoters to deliver health promotion activities to reduce malnutrition, including anemia and chronic malnutrition for children under 5.
Train school-based staff and health personnel to effectively plan and deliver youth health education activities.
Teach students sexual and reproductive health (SRH), life skills, social and emotional well-being and nutrition.
Conduct the comprehensive health plan delivery for adolescents alongside the health post staff.

You may also work on additional projects that meet the community’s interests and priorities, such as supporting public health campaigns or educational summer camps.

As a Public Health Educator, you will be trained on topics like child and maternal health care, comprehensive adolescent health, and effective classroom management strategies. Peace Corps/Peru will teach you Spanish to help you comfortably live in and connect with the community. You may also receive language resources and learn Quechua depending on your site placement.

After 10 weeks of training, you will move to a rural or semi-urban community where you will work with staff from local health posts and tutors from local high schools. You will work with the community to assess the health needs and develop solutions based on health care interventions for children under 3 and adolescents.