During the Spring 2016 semester, our team traveled to San Salvador, El Salvador to implement a health education program targeting underserved children aged 5 to 12 years of age.  To identify appropriate health topics for our health education campaign, we performed a thorough analysis of published community needs assessments and literature regarding health concerns facing rural populations in El Salvador.  Upon arriving in San Salvador, our team met with local community activists and health clinic staff who connected us with rural communities containing a large population of children within our specified age range.  We communicated with representatives in these communities and scheduled times to meet with their local children. Community leaders shared our meeting times with local parents. To promote youth attendance, parents and guardians were provided with a free pair of shoes donated by a partner organization and children were provided with snacks and goody bags.
We hosted five days of health education programming in rural communities, including three locations in Ciudad de Santiago Texacunagos (a local health clinic, the town square, and an open air market) and two locations in Sonsonate Department (a local school and Hogar Inmaculado Corazón de Maria, a local orphanage).  On each day, students arrived and were divided into 6 groups. Each group started with a different piece of the developed curriculum and then rotated through each section until completed.  Between the third and fourth rotations, participants were provided with a snack.  At completion of the curriculum, student success was celebrated with goody bags, food, music, sports activities, and a piñata.  More than 200 students participated in the program during its inaugural run, meaning that 200 students and their families were provided with information to improve their health status given available resources and 200 families were provided with a pair of shoes.