Colombia

COUNTRY BACKGROUND

Colombia has weathered more than 40 years of domestic conflict between the government and armed illegal groups. The conflict has displaced an estimated 2 million to 3 million people, a number only exceeded by the ongoing conflict in Darfur, Sudan. Continuous fighting and insecurity have contributed to great socioeconomic inequality. Dispersed throughout the country, displaced persons - many of whom lack official documentation and identification - frequently find themselves unable to access social services. Rural areas lack the basic sanitation services that urban populations have acquired. In addition to communicable diseases, maternal and child health are public health priorities for Colombia.

GLOBAL MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

The Gift of Life Project: Supplying Medical Volunteers in War-Torn Colombia
AmeriCares began providing aid to Colombia in 1985, following the Navado del Ruiz Volcano eruption. After that disaster AmeriCares delivered relief supplies through a series of seven airlifts and two sea shipments.

Today we continue to provide ongoing medical aid to our in-country partner, the Colombian Order of Malta, and its outreach program, the Medical and Surgical Missions of the Civil Air Patrol (Patrulla Aerea Civil [PAC] - Programa Medico-Quirúrgico). The Bogota Civil Air Patrol is a nonprofit organization of volunteer doctors and pilots who travel monthly to the most isolated and marginalized regions of the Amazon jungle, the pacific coast region and desert zones.

The Gift of Life project (Brindando Vida) brings teams of physicians to different regions of the country where they set up field hospitals that treat approximately 1,300 patients over a period of three to four days. Roughly 160 of the consultations are surgical interventions, as PAC’s experienced medical teams are able to work almost anywhere, performing major surgeries in a portable emergency room tent. The Gift of Life Project complements the Civil Air Patrol by supporting those patients who require transfers to an urban medical center.

AmeriCares supports the medical teams with donations of essential medicines such as topical/oral antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, topical anti-fungals, vitamins and nutritional supplements. To date, AmeriCares has donated more than $19 million to the Colombian Order of Malta.