Water and Health in the Peruvian Andes.
DESEA Newsletter, October 2011.
The Province
B.C. Couple Bring Health Care to the High Andres in Peru
The Mary A. Tidlund Charitable Foundation and Asociación DESEA Perú, a community-based Peruvian NGO, are working in partnership to improve the very poor health conditions suffered by indigenous people of the Andes Mountains near Cusco, Peru. Health and economic data are very limited for indigenous communities in the Peruvian Andes; however, by any measure these people are amongst the poorest in Latin America. Within the indigenous population of Peru, 85% live in poverty (1-2 USD/day) or extreme poverty (<1 USD/day). In these communities, malnutrition and gastrointestinal, parasitic, and diarrheal diseases are endemic.
In mid 2008, DESEA Perú undertook a program of household water treatment, hygiene and sanitation education, health assessment, and weekly health clinics in the three sectors of Accha Alta Community (pop. 713), near the Sacred Valley, Cusco region. Then in September 2009, DESEA commenced a one-year pilot project in Accha Alta which entailed development of a community health worker (CHW) training program, production of a draft Spanish language CHW teaching manual, and intensive training of five illiterate, Quechua-speaking CHWs. Notably, since the initiation of the community health worker program, there have been no infant, under-5, or maternal mortalities (whereas in the previous year there were three); this is significant progress in a country that has the 2nd highest rate of maternal, infant and under-5 mortalities in South America and in a province with the highest maternal mortality rates in the country.
The Mary A. Tidlund Foundation and DESEA Perú are proposing to maintain the Accha Alta project and to extend the program to four remote communities in neighbouring Huarqui and Sapacto (elev. 4,000 m; 13,200 ft.). These latter communities, with an estimated population of 1,455 people, are very isolated from health services and have public transportation available only one day per week.
Women and Children’s Health Clinic In PeruDESEA is hosting the Mary A. Tildund Charitable Foundation and a small medical team from October 14 – 27, 2011.
The team is travelling to the following Peruvian communities: Acchapampa, Totora, Sasicancha, Chaupimayo, Kelloccocha, and Chaipa.
News from Mary Tidlund …
We have seen many women, young kids and a few men. The village yesterday was at 3700 ft Totora. We drove up the mountain past spectacular terraced fields and into a village that had been built on the side of the mountain. They mainly grow many varieties of potatoes and corn on small plots of land that are grown without big machinery and with hand tools. Hard labor and hauling up and down the mountain. Crops are timed with the seasons and nature is honored.
They are building a new highway past the village and due to this they (highway workers) have bulldozed many of the local peoples homes, soccer fields, health center. They are either no longer there or will go down in the next rainy season. The people have to start again building new brick homes.
The local people are very gentle and kind. The women spend all day spinning their Alpaca and sheep wool into beautiful scarves, hangings.
The day starts cool and by noon we are shedding layers of clothing. The people of all ages wear many layers of colorful clothing with hats. The team is working well together. The translators translating from Spanish to Gotcha s make time spent with patients slower however they are all patient. The women are shy and soft spoken yet very strong and capable of raising their large families. I will have more stats tomorrow when I input the patient data into the laptop.
Sandra and Sandy are great to work with and are well respected in the community. We have seen the concrete water filters but many were also destroyed in the bulldozing as people had no time to remove their belongings.
Kids, even kindergarten age, walk an hour or one way more up and down the mountain to attend school.
Dr. Violet and Nicole worked tirelessly in the one room building with two rooms separated with curtains and sheets. No electricity, one window that we have to paper up for privacy and no water other than what we brought with us. There is very little water in the village at all as a result of the bulldozing.
Christine is fitting in perfectly managing the pharmacy. In another open room, we have a few small tables to work off of and kids chairs from the school. The local nurses are great to work with along with the local health care workers. We are all learning from each other and we encourage the local natural ways of healing that have been used for centuries.
Lots of muscular and painful bodies from all the labor and lifting. No high blood pressure.
A beautiful story, "A Simple Solution, A Changed Life"; an outcome from our medical trip in the fall of 2011.A Simple Solution - A Changed Life
