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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.
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 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 COVID-19 pandemic is a ‘crisis within a crisis’ for people experiencing homelessness. Homeless individuals infected by COVID-19 are twice as likely to be hospitalized, two to four times as likely to require critical care, and two to three times more likely to die than the general population.
@WHO is hosting a webinar on January 28, 12h30 – 13h30 CET to illustrate which actions can be taken to decrease these inequalities.
Link to Register: http://ow.ly/jcr250DhRb3
#HealthThroughHousing
#BuildingHealthDifferently
#HealthyHousing
#HousingForAll
#HealthyEquity
#Homelessness
#FuelPoverty
Did you Know? Fuel Poverty is a global health problem — in the EU, in the UK and in the United States.
Fuel Poverty is defined as the difficulty in accessing energy due to a lack of physical access or economic difficulty in financing expenditure on energy carriers. The EU and UK have formally recognized fuel poverty as a health issue.
Fuel or Energy is vital for maintaining extreme indoor temperatures during harsh weather conditions. In 2015, around 42 million households in the United States received either an energy disconnect, delivery stop notice or they had to do without food and medicine to pay their energy bills. Yet the United States has failed to recognize energy insecurity and fuel poverty as a distinct problem.
Register for this webinar hosted by WHO to learn more about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on households already dealing with a burden of health inequities. @who
Link to Register in BIO
#HealthThroughHousing
#BuildingHealthDifferently
#HealthyHousing
#HousingForAll
Whether you are a public health professional, architect, community based organization, or simply interested in the intersection of health and housing.
We encourage you to visit the Health through Housing Coalition (HtHC) and learn how you can get involved in building healthier communities.
https://healththroughhousing.org/
On the Blog
Find out the latest in health and the built environment on our Blog Feed.