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Primary health care in the indigenous heartland of Delta Amacuro in Venezuela

Venezuela

In Venezuela, where hospitals across the country lack staff, supplies, and basic services, we rehabilitate facilities and provide general and specialist healthcare.

Our teams provide healthcare in Amazonas, Anzoátegui, Bolívar, Miranda, Táchira and Capital District, where we give technical support to public health facilities as needed, such as assistance with surveillance, setting up isolation areas and triage systems, and strengthening the emergency response.
 
Most of our work is focused on strengthening general and specialist healthcare, such sexual and reproductive health and vaccinations. We also distribute medicines to patients and health facilities, train healthcare workers and have upgraded the infrastructure of health facilities by improving waste disposal, water distribution and sanitation.
 
In states with high levels of malaria, we continue to run prevention and treatment programmes, including early diagnosis and vector control. This has resulted in a considerable reduction in cases.

Our activities in 2023 in Venezuela

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2023.

MSF in Venezuela in 2023 With the socio-economic crisis in Venezuela showing no sign of abating in 2023, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continued to fill gaps in healthcare and rehabilitate health facilities across the country.
Venezuela IAR map 2023

Throughout the year, MSF teams supported medical services in health centres and collaborated with local authorities to rehabilitate their electricity supply, waste management, and water and sanitation. We also donated medical supplies and conducted staff training.

Our medical activities included general healthcare, sexual and reproductive health services, care for victims and survivors of sexual violence, diagnosis and treatment of malaria, mental health support, and health promotion.

In Anzoátegui and Bolívar states, we worked to increase the provision of sexual and reproductive health consultations. Key services included family planning, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, and assisting births. 

We also continued our malaria programme in Bolívar state, where we have been working for seven years to reduce the high incidence of the disease, focusing on early diagnosis and treatment, vector control, and health promotion. In addition, we conducted workshops with technical training for national malaria programme staff in Sifontes municipality.

In Delta Amacuro, a densely forested, difficult-to-reach region crossed by numerous rivers and waterways, we sent a multidisciplinary team to increase access to general healthcare for the mostly Indigenous communities living there. These communities suffer from a range of preventable diseases caused by the precarious conditions in which they live, and the multiple barriers they face in accessing healthcare. Diseases include waterborne diseases such as parasitosis and diarrhoea, malaria and other diseases spread by insects, respiratory infections, and malnutrition. A lack of ante- and postnatal care also increases the risks for pregnant women and their babies. The team made great efforts to overcome language and access barriers and adapt care to local culture. Our teams worked to raise awareness on best health practices, proper hygiene and disease prevention.

In 2023, we closed our project in Amazonas state after working to strengthen health services in several urban and rural areas, including by increasing the capacity to provide outpatient care. During our four years in Amazonas, our teams also ran community-based health education sessions and reinforced preventive healthcare practices.
 

 

in 2023
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