Community health project within the area of conflict in Bajo Atrato (Chocò Department – Colombia)

The main target of this project is improving, in two-year time, health conditions of rural population in Bajo Atrato (Chocò Department – Colombia)

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The project’s beneficiaries are 25 indigenous, Afro and Mestizo communities settled in the cuencas (basins) of the Salaquì River and the Truandò, Cacarica, Curvaradò, La Larga and Jiguamiandò, which are Atrato River’s tributaries. The project’s specific target is to develop primary health care services within the communities of Bajo Atrato which can offer quality services able to meet population’s needs, with a particular focus on the weakest in the communities, children and women. Bajo Atrato area and Chocò have the highest rates of poverty and underdevelopment in Colombia.
According to a survey carried out by Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadistica (statitics national administrative department) in 2005, 79,7% of the population in Chocò has no basic needs satisfied while the percentage for the whole country population is 27,7%.
To make the situation even worse is the fact that beneficiary communities are in a permanent-human-crisis zone within which civilian population – mostly forced to leave their homes- is particularly vulnerable because of the violence of the Colombian internal conflict and its own historical condition of socio-economical alienation. Within this dramatic situation, the populatio’s socio-health conditions are very poor, and this is due to the lack of prevention and treatment services as well as lack of political intentions to improve the situation.
Direct consequences are therefore high rate of maternal and child mortality also due to lack of family planning programmes, as well as malnutrition problems, lack of essential medicines and vaccination plans. Endemic pathologies of the area are malaria, dengue, leptospirosis, leishmaniasis, typhoid fever, intestinal parassitosis and tubercolosis.
The project’s activities can be divided in 4 wide areas of intervention: training, treatment, health prevention and promotion, infrastructures. The activities planned for the project’s first year are the following: selection of 22 health promoters and set up of theoretical and practical training courses for them, implementation of community visits of support and supervision for health promoters, essential medicines stock for self-sustainable pharmacies of 21 community health areas, treatment, health prevention and promotion community activities implemented by health promoters, installation of solar panels in 8 community health areas, solar panels management and maintenance training course. Health department of social pastoral care body in Apartadò, Municipality of Cascina are project’s partners.

Expected outcomes:

• 19 community health promoters have been trained in treatment, health prevention and promotion, on theoretical and practical level;
• 4 community health areas are operative and running with solar power;
• self-sustained pharmacies of 21 community health areas are stocked with essential medicines;
• solar panels management and maintenance training course: two people have been trained on solar panels management and maintenance;
• 26 water house tanks have been installed and are operative.

Beneficiary population
Direct: 5,000 people belonging to 25 indigenous, Afro and Mestizo communities settled in the cuencas (basins) of the Salaquì River and the Truandò, Cacarica, Curvaradò, La Larga and Jiguamiandò, Atrato River’s tributaries.
Indirect: the remaining population (approximately 18,000 people) of the communities of Rio Sucio and Carmen del Darièn.

Volunteers:
Local: 1
Expatriates: 2

Partner
Health department of social pastoral care body in Apartadò, Municipality of Cascina

Cofinanced by:
Region of Tuscany, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Volterra, Municipality of Cascina, MEDU.

News from the project