ParticipAid co-founder Dr. Erin Willis reflects on health education and empowering rural communities in Nepal. 

Dr. Erin Willis saw how naturopathic medicine could benefit global health efforts before she set foot at the National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM). 

Willis, who earned her Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degree from NUNM in 2014, had traveled frequently to Nepal and worked with villagers to deliver clean water, gardens and sanitary services.  

She learned through years of trial and error that international development worked best when approached through a participatory process, she said, where local people held positions of power throughout all stages of a project. It was only when she decentered herself in the work that communities could take ownership and truly allow a project to flourish. 

This experience was firm in her mind when she co-founded ParticipAid (aptly named by putting ‘aid’ in ‘participation’), a nonprofit with a mission to elevate the health and wellbeing of people living in hard-to-reach places.  

“Our program is very much naturopathic infused, from top to bottom,” Willis said. “Our six principles of natural medicine were considered in the design of both the organization and our projects.”  

Willis and her team first formed ParticipAid in the wake of a devasting earthquake in Nepal in 2015 to help the small community of Karmidanda rebuild their village.  

“There are no doctors, no real clinics to speak of and no practitioners,” Willis said. “There’s also a low level of health awareness, so health conditions can get bad there really quick.” 

ParticipAid’s model and research framework, structured with help from mentors at the Helfgott Research Institute, aims to place healthcare solutions in the hands of the community.  

“The vertical line of transmission has essentially stopped now. The younger people aren’t interested as much in learning shamanism or herbal medicine from their grandfathers.”

— Dr. Erin Willis, NUNM alumna

A primary goal of the organization, Willis said, is to restore balance between modern and indigenous natural medicine in Nepal.

She had seen the effects of rapid modernization on plant medicine and rural traditions throughout her travels to the Himalayas, she said, in a region often referred to as the birthplace of Ayurveda. 

“The vertical line of transmission has essentially stopped now,” Willis said. “The younger people aren’t interested as much in learning shamanism or herbal medicine from their grandfathers.” 

ParticipAid positions communities to lead projects that can integrate herbal medicine with naturopathic foundations, encouraging communal sharing and access to indigenous medicine practices.

With a focus on preventive health education, behavior change and native plant cultivation, ParticipAid tackles health challenges through its flagship program Prevention is Better than Cure. 

Residents are first trained as local health educators to spread knowledge around healthful lifestyle and nutrition in Nepali schools and residences, she said. They then sow native crops and medicinal plants in gardens across the village, propagating offshoots to replant in neighboring plots.  

Over the course of one year, ParticipAid helped distribute more 6,500 plants in village schools and family gardens, Willis said.

It also leads the Nepal Global Health Experience program, a unique multidisciplinary service opportunity for healthcare volunteers. Participants learn about the history and culture of Nepal and then work alongside its practitioners to provide direct medical care to residents. 

Last October, volunteers embarked on their first trip since COVID-19 and treated more than 1,000 patients in just five days.  

Willis said much of ParticipAid’s success stems from the connections made in the community over time, as well as a willingness to work together. Finding ways to empower people on the ground has been critical in their efforts. 

“The question I always ask myself is, in what way can I behave that will help them see how powerful they are,” she said. “They’ve got a lot of power but it’s about what we can do, how can we structure things, and where can I sit so they can really experience that.” 

Willis said she hopes to eventually replicate the model elsewhere, but that it could take several years to measure the impact of their large-scale prevention program.  

Until then, fundraising efforts and a deep love for the Nepali people, culture, and land continues to fuel her work. 

“I feel really lucky to have found a population I’m genuinely so devoted to,” she said. “I don’t have to rustle it up.”  

Willis, who graduated before NUNM launched its Master of Science in Global Health program, said she draws on her passion for Nepal whenever students ask for advice on how to pursue health work abroad.  

“I often tell students who don’t know what direction they’re going in, or anybody, really, to focus on finding some people they love to work with,” she said. “That will make everything much easier.” 

Editor’s Note: Dr. Erin Willis invites students and practitioners to connect with ParticipAid for volunteer opportunities and to learn more about the organization. 

Written by Ashley Villarreal, Marketing Content Specialist