Colombia
Project HOPE is actively on the ground providing aid to Venezuelans. Read the latest updates here.
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About Colombia
More than three million people have fled Venezuela’s ongoing humanitarian, political and economic crisis since 2015. The situation has affected the entire Latin America region, but neighboring Colombia has received more than half of all Venezuelan refugees and migrants to date.
Project HOPE is currently on the ground in Colombia, coordinating with key stakeholders to provide critical health services to Venezuelan migrants and refugees as well as Colombian returnees. Our operations are based out of Cúcuta in the Norte de Santander department, a city on the border where a large number of Venezuelans enter the country every day. Our current activities extend to Villa del Rosario and nearby border communities, and we aim to continue to expand our reach and impact in direct coordination with the Colombian government, international stakeholders and local authorities and organizations. Our response aligns with the United Nations Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela.
Project HOPE is deeply concerned about the protection of refugees and migrants as they are at an increased risk of sexual exploitation and gender-based violence (GBV). An increase in the prevalence of HIV is also a critical concern, as access to anti-retroviral therapy is limited.
The Challenges
A severely strained health care system
The significant number of displaced Venezuelans seeking treatment at Colombian medical facilities has placed an immense strain on the country’s health system. Colombian authorities report the number of Venezuelan patients at hospitals in Cúcuta has increased by 60% or more.
Our team has met with health-care and government officials, including directors at Erasmo Meoz University Hospital, a major hospital in Cúcuta, where medical staff put in long hours yet still struggle to treat everyone in need of care. The rooms at Erasmo Meoz are filled to maximum capacity – even the hallways are lined with beds.
The hospital’s department of obstetrics and gynecology is particularly overwhelmed: Colombia has become a destination for Venezuelan women seeking medical assistance and a safe location in which to give birth.
“Antenatal care has [all but] ceased in Venezuela. A large majority [of pregnant women entering Colombia from Venezuela] have not had antenatal checkups. Many are in their second or third trimester and haven’t gone through the type of regular checkups a woman would receive if the system was running properly.”
Health outposts near the Simón Bolívar International Bridge, one of the most active border crossing points between Venezuela and Colombia, are also overwhelmed by the rapid influx of Venezuelans in need of medical services. For many people crossing the border into Colombia, these smaller health centers are the first opportunity for treatment – but like larger hospitals, these outposts are having trouble coping with the increasing number of patients in need of health services.
Major Health Concerns
The top five health problems seen at health posts on the border include:
- Suspected malaria and dengue cases.
- High-risk pregnancies.
- Infectious gastroenteritis.
- Gender-based violence (GBV)
- Upper respiratory tract infections.
Diseases such as malaria and dengue – not seen in Colombia in years – have made a resurgence because people are sleeping outside without nets or blankets. The lack of clean water and sanitation has caused diarrheal diseases to spread. Measles, skin diseases and respiratory tract infections from a lack of shelter during the rainy season are also becoming more common.
Women are the most at-risk, as maternal deaths skyrocket due to pregnancy complications and lack of pre-natal care, anemia controls and caesarian sections.
Project HOPE is also very concerned about the protection of refugees and migrants because they are at an increased risk of sexual exploitation, GBV and HIV. Health facilities already struggle to meet the needs of drastically increasing patient populations – and there is a widespread lack of training in appropriate and confidential GBV case and clinical management among health providers, putting survivors at a higher risk of neglect, abuse and disease.
Bringing HOPE to Colombia
HOPE’s response activities in Colombia align with the priorities of the Colombian government and UNHCR’s response plan for 2019. Our key focus areas fall under “Direct Emergency Assistance and Protection” as outlined in the plan and include:
- Increasing access to health services.
- Strengthening services for survivors of GBV.
- Ensuring access to laboratory testing.
- Supporting local health authorities.
Read our press release: “As political instability in Venezuela grows, Project HOPE believes that people caught in the middle must have unhindered access to humanitarian assistance.”
An Emergency Response Team on the Ground
Project HOPE deployed an emergency response team to Cúcuta in September 2018 to address the dangerous health conditions and help medical teams receive arriving Venezuelans.
“Health care, food and nutrition assistance, vaccines and WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) support are among the most urgent humanitarian needs of Venezuelans, returnees and host communities in border regions,” said Chris Skopec, Project HOPE’s executive vice president of Global Health and Disaster Response Programs.
Our aim is to support and build up health services in the area, connect people with healthcare services, and improve access to medicines and doctors.
Read our press release: “Project HOPE deploys medical team to Colombia.”
Providing Staff Surge Support in Hospitals and Clinics
Project HOPE is actively working to address the health needs of Venezuelans from the primary care to tertiary care level in partnership with two major hospitals in Norte de Santander.
Since February 2019, HOPE has been providing medical staff surge support and medicines to Erasmo Meoz University Hospital – the only tertiary care hospital in the Norte de Santander department. Located in Cúcuta, the hospital treated nearly 15,000 Venezuelan patients in 2018. A Project HOPE team specializing in obstetrics and gynecology is providing critically needed care to Venezuelan women who come to the emergency department with obstetric complications. HOPE’s team is also assisting the hospital in strengthening its health information system by conducting research and tracking key health outcomes in order to accurately report on the health needs of Venezuelans seeking care.
Since the end of 2018, Project HOPE has also been coordinating with the Jorge Cristo Sahium Hospital in Villa del Rosario, providing a team of medical doctors and essential drugs at two of its primary care health outposts near the border. HOPE’s support has increased each health post’s capacity to see an additional 32 patients a day. Supporting staff at the health outposts also helps to minimize the corresponding strain on hospitals: the more often patients can be treated at these outposts, the less often patients need to be referred to specialists or seek care through the already overburdened emergency departments at hospitals in North Santander.
Read an update from the field: “It’s impactful to see people walking hundreds of kilometers, often with only their children and whatever they can carry in their hands.”
You can help save lives
With your support, Project HOPE is changing and saving the lives of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Around the world, countless children, women and men are suffering from life-threatening conditions and diseases without access to health care. You can help to make a difference in their lives.
Our History in Colombia
Project HOPE’s history in Colombia dates back to 1995 when we helped establish a regional emergency medical system (EMS) at the request of local government, health facilities and university partners. The EMS was designed to support both daily emergencies and disaster situations, providing the populations of Cartagena and Bolivar with 24-7 emergency support. HOPE also implemented the AIDS Home Care project in an effort to provide patients diagnosed with AIDS in and around Bogotá with high quality, low-cost care directly in their homes.