Sinergias prepares project in Guainía

The organization will have a project in the region to improve coverage for the prevention, control and elimination of five neglected infectious diseases. It is expected to benefit 77 indigenous communities (totaling about 6,840 people).

The director of Sinergias, physician Pablo Montoya, visited the project's coverage area this week. There he met with different local health institutions in order to jointly establish the best way to implement the strategies that will contribute to the control of neglected diseases, classified by the World Health Organization as diseases that mainly affect poor populations in rural areas.

The project, which is a Sinergias between the Ministry of Health, Direct Relief, the Departmental Health Secretariat and the organization, will contribute to the control of trachoma (which causes permanent blindness), helminthiasis (intestinal parasites), pediculosis, scabies, tungiasis (external parasites known as chiggers) and larva migrans, in areas that are not covered by the current program for the prevention and control of Neglected Infectious Diseases - NIDs.

In the communities near the Guaviare (on the border of Guainía and Vichada), Atabapo and Inírida rivers, and in the Bocón, Barranco Tigre and Loma Altados canals, two rounds of massive administration of medicines (provided by the Ministry of Health) will be carried out, and health promotion actions will be developed using innovative methodologies and techniques with an intercultural approach. In this way, it is expected to better understand the traditional conception of these diseases and based on this knowledge, recommendations adjusted to the local context will be offered.

Each project activity will be in line with the National Inter-programmatic Plan for the Prevention, Control and Elimination of Neglected Infectious Diseases in Colombia, 2013-2017.

In this way Sinergias reaffirms its commitment to intercultural dialogue to achieve quality health, adapted to the traditional practices and beliefs of the ethnic communities of Guainía.