You can support local people on improvements to health and hygiene through health education and informational campaigns. In some countries, professionals and medical students can assist local health care workers with patient education and outreach. We also work on locally designed nutrition projects. For instance, volunteers can work with students and teachers to create promotional materials, including age-appropriate brochures showing good hand-washing practices, “Water Is Not Enough!” posters, and simple diagrams of disease transmission.

Other volunteers teach health lessons often using the book "Where There Is No Doctor." Intended primarily for village health workers in developing countries, this widely used health education text addresses a wide range of health issues including diarrhea, malaria, parasitic worms, and HIV AIDS, while emphasizing hygiene, diet and vaccinations. Perhaps the most important health contribution volunteers make is helping turn hand washing with soap from a theoretical concept into practical routine behavior at school and home. Volunteers demonstrate to health care providers, school faculty and other local leaders the scientific evidence that washing hands with soap and water is an especially successful and cost-effective health intervention. Many lives can be saved through this simple practice.

Community-initiated campaigns may include encouraging “take home rations” and household gardens so pregnant and lactating women have sufficient nutrition for themselves and their babies during the critical 1000 days between conception and a child's second birthday. Some volunteers may help interview students about their preferences for school sanitation facilities to report to local campaign leaders.