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What We Do
Inadequate housing makes it impossible for people, particularly vulnerable and at-risk communities, to achieve health.
ARCHIVE Global (Architecture for Health in Vulnerable Environments) is an award-winning international organization that uses housing design as a key preventative strategy in improving health outcomes in vulnerable communities around the world. Through simple, innovative, and cost-effective built environment interventions paired with community health awareness campaigns, our research has proven that these strategies improve the health-outcomes of our beneficiaries.
Learn more about Our Story.
Housing and Health
- Household materials can host insects that cause diseases such as Chagas and scrub typhus.
- Food stored in unhygienic environments can host life-threatening bacteria, mold, and lead to rodent-borne illness.
- Inadequate access to water and sanitation are a common source of diarrheal disease, hepatitis, and many neglected tropical diseases.
- Dirt floors carry parasites, bacteria, and viruses that cause diarrhea, hepatitis, typhoid fever, and neglected tropical diseases.
Housing and Health
- Windows, doors, and eaves are entry points for insects, rodents, and animals, exposing families to vector-borne disease, rodent-borne illnesses, and more.
- Lack of ventilation can exacerbate respiratory infections and the spread of infectious diseases.
- Debris around a home provides a breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes and hiding spaces for deadly snakes.
- Overcrowding exacerbates the spread of infectious diseases and increases diseases spread through proximity to livestock and other animals.
Housing and Health
- Asbestos, found in many building materials, is known to cause pleural diseases and various cancers such as Mesothelioma.
- Inadequate community resources such as lack of access to markets, and green spaces increase levels of stress, anxiety, social isolation, and reduces mental health.
- Lead can be found in homes’ pipes, paint, or household objects built in the US before 1978, and can cause anemia, kidney and brain damage, and cognitive impairment in children.
- Radon is a colorless and odorless gas found in the ground that reaches homes through contaminated groundwater and dirt floors. It causes physical disabilities and various cancers.
Housing and Health
- Household materials can host insects that cause diseases such as Chagas and scrub typhus.
- Food stored in unhygienic environments can host life-threatening bacteria, mold, and lead to rodent-borne illness.
- Inadequate access to water and sanitation are a common source of diarrheal disease, hepatitis, and many neglected tropical diseases.
- Dirt floors carry parasites, bacteria, and viruses that cause diarrhea, hepatitis, typhoid fever, and neglected tropical diseases.
Housing and Health
- Windows, doors, and eaves are entry points for insects, rodents, and animals, exposing families to vector-borne disease, rodent-borne illnesses, and more.
- Lack of ventilation can exacerbate respiratory infections and the spread of infectious diseases.
- Debris around a home provides a breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes and hiding spaces for deadly snakes.
- Overcrowding exacerbates the spread of infectious diseases and increases diseases spread through proximity to livestock and other animals.
Housing and Health
- Asbestos, found in many building materials, is known to cause pleural diseases and various cancers such as Mesothelioma.
- Inadequate community resources such as lack of access to markets, and green spaces increase levels of stress, anxiety, social isolation, and reduces mental health.
- Lead can be found in homes’ pipes, paint, or household objects built in the US before 1978, and can cause anemia, kidney and brain damage, and cognitive impairment in children.
- Radon is a colorless and odorless gas found in the ground that reaches homes through contaminated groundwater and dirt floors. It causes physical disabilities and various cancers.
Our Work
Each of our projects focuses on one specific health concern and one specific built intervention to improve the targeted health concern, and encompass research, the design of the built environment, and advocacy. Communities of need exist in both developing and developed countries, and our projects reflect that. Explore all of our Work.
Handwashing Stations to Combat COVID-19 in Savar, Bangladesh
Savar, Bangladesh Mud to Mortar
Savar and Dhamrai Upazila, Bangladesh Ekibada: Our Periods Matter
Maina Parish, Mayuge District, Uganda Health and Housing in Haiti
Saint-Marc, Haiti Building Malaria Prevention
Yaoundé, Cameroon Building Sanitation in Idenau
Idenau Municipality, Cameroon Sanitation for Health in Delhi
Aya Nagar, Delhi, India Happy Healthy Households
Brent and Newham, London, UK Breathe Easy Camden
Camden County, New Jersey, United States Active Aging in NYC: Design for Health
New York, NY, USA CHAI Mosquito-Proof Housing in Namibia
Districts of Mashosho, Simanya, Onoonga, Oupale, Onandjamba A, Omatako, Namibia Building out Chagas
Bolivia Healthy Air, Healthy Living
Oromia, Ethiopia
Savar, Bangladesh Mud to Mortar
Savar and Dhamrai Upazila, Bangladesh Ekibada: Our Periods Matter
Maina Parish, Mayuge District, Uganda Health and Housing in Haiti
Saint-Marc, Haiti Building Malaria Prevention
Yaoundé, Cameroon Building Sanitation in Idenau
Idenau Municipality, Cameroon Sanitation for Health in Delhi
Aya Nagar, Delhi, India Happy Healthy Households
Brent and Newham, London, UK Breathe Easy Camden
Camden County, New Jersey, United States Active Aging in NYC: Design for Health
New York, NY, USA CHAI Mosquito-Proof Housing in Namibia
Districts of Mashosho, Simanya, Onoonga, Oupale, Onandjamba A, Omatako, Namibia Building out Chagas
Bolivia Healthy Air, Healthy Living
Oromia, Ethiopia
News & Insights
Stay informed with updates, projects, reports, and upcoming events on the ARCHIVE Instagram Feed.
The Neglected Tropical Diseases classification accounts for 20 different conditions, prevalent in tropical regions where they mainly affect vulnerable communities, predominantly women and children.
The epidemiology of NTDs is often related to #EnvironmentalConditions such as poor #sanitation, limited access to safe #water, and difficulty in accessing proximate and affordable #healthcare. Because NTDs affect under-resourced communities they are exactly that - neglected. This means that prevention is key and improved living conditions are critical to ensuring that.
January 30th is #WorldNTDDay.
This year, you too can take the action towards ending NTD’s. By donating to ARCHIVE Global, you are helping us improve the health outcomes in vulnerable communities around the world.
Donate today: https://archiveglobal.org/donate/
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#neglectedtropicaldiseases #buildinghealthdifferently #ARCHIVEglobal
ARCHIVE joins the @holocaustmuseum in marking today—International #HolocaustRemembranceDay, the anniversary of the liberation of #Auschwitz-Birkenau—to honor the memory of Europe’s Jews, who were targeted for annihilation. www.ushmm.org/IHRD2023
The persecution of Jews began immediately after Nazi leaders came to power. From 1933 until the end of the war, almost 400 decrees, laws, and directives were adopted, gradually causing restrictions on the human rights of Jews in Germany. Their safety was endangered in public spaces, at their jobs, and even in their homes.
As an example, a decree adopted in April 1938 required all Jewish-owned property in excess of 5,000 Reichsmarks (about $34K today) to be reported. This inventory was later used as means for systematic confiscation by the state and was the final step in the Nazi plan to impoverish and exclude Jewish communities from the German economy.
(https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitic-legislation-1933-1939)
Accommodation became a rare commodity for all countries affected by war, hitting Jewish population the worst. In 1939 Jews could be evicted from their homes without notice. (https://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/voices/info/decrees/decrees.html)
ARCHIVE Global stand against all types of #discrimination, especially those that strip people from their #HousingRights and their basic #HumanRights.
We continue to work on designing and building safe and stable housing environments for vulnerable communities around the globe.
#holocaustremembranceday #WW2 #housingrights #buildinghealthdifferently
Breaking News: The latest phase of our Mud to Mortar project is kicking off! We will build 40 new #ConcreteFloors for families living on dirt floors. This upgrade makes them much easier to #clean, more #hygienic, and #safer. Our local partner ADESH is busy visiting the participating families, collecting data and acquiring construction materials.
Like our previous phases of this project, we expect the new floors to reduce illness like diarrhea and intestinal parasites, stress, and the economic burden of disease.
This phase is unique because ADESH will train 40 women in masonry construction, then employ them on the construction of the floors. Women in Bangladesh are traditionally limited in their employment opportunities, so this will provide much-needed diversity. With this gender nonconforming opportunity they will gain employable skills and knowledge that can serve to generate income for themselves while improving conditions throughout their community.
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#MudtoMortar #buldinghealthdifferently #ARCHIVEglobal
On the Blog
Find out the latest in health and the built environment on our Blog Feed.