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Behind the wheel – driving ambulances in El Salvador’s red zones

In Soyapango, a city neighbouring El Salvador's capital, San Salvador, MSF operates an ambulance service in conjunction with an existing service run by Comandos de Salvamento. In recent years, neighbourhoods and communities within the city  - home to around 250,000 people - have become bastions of gangs and violence, and difficult to access by medical services. In El Salvador, they are defined as “red zones”.

In Soyapango, MSF has two ambulances (one medicalised) for the transport of patients which, in emergencies, enable people living in red zones to access health centres and hospitals.

An innovative element of this service is that MSF has introduced women to the combined role of nurses and - more unusually in El Salvador - drivers.

Claudia Ramírez talks about her daily routine and motivations as a nurse and driver.

Video

MSF ambulances in El Salvador

In Soyapango, a city neighbouring San Salvador, MSF operates an ambulance service in conjunction with an existing one run by volunteer association Comandos de Salvamento. In this video, Claudia Ramírez talks about her daily routine and motivations as a nurse and driver.
David Rodríguez/MSF
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El Salvador
Project Update 11 February 2019