El Salvador

COUNTRY BACKGROUND

The smallest and most densely populated country in Central America, El Salvador has endured decades of economic, political and social turmoil due to an extended civil war that ended in 1992, as well as frequent natural disasters.

Over the last 15 years El Salvador has made significant progress in post-conflict reconstruction and recovery, rebuilding the seriously damaged health care infrastructure. However, government health services only reach 70% of the population, and 35% of the poorest Salvadorans lack access to both public and private medical care. Additionally, medicines are prohibitively expensive and inaccessible for one-fifth of the population. Medicine prices in El Salvador are the highest of all Central American countries. As such, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play an important role in filling this health care gap, reaching marginalized communities and those impacted by natural disasters including hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

GLOBAL MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

AmeriCares Family Clinic Delivers Quality Care for 21,000 Patient Visits a Year
AmeriCares commitment to health care reconstruction in El Salvador is best reflected in the Clínica Integral de Atención Familiar. We opened this health care facility in 2003 with an earthquake reconstruction grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Since 2003 our local staff of 40, including doctors, nurses, a dentist and the region’s only psychologist have served a population of 120,000 around Santiago de María, offering consultations in general medicine, gynecology, dentistry and psychology, as well as health education for new mothers, diabetes management and school outreach to thousands of children for oral hygiene. The clinic is equipped with state-of-the-art imaging and laboratory diagnostics; all patient records are electronic and medicines are never out of stock at the pharmacy.

The clinic offers a low-cost, high-quality alternative to free public clinics and high-cost private practices. Its exceptional level of care draws more and more patients each year. Attendance has increased dramatically since 2003 — from 66 to nearly 1,800 patient visits a month. More than 75% of patients originate from municipalities outside Santiago de Maria, often traveling hours to receive care from our dedicated staff.

Global Medical Assistance in El Salvador
Working with the Order of Malta, AmeriCares first began delivering aid to El Salvador in 1986, providing relief in the midst of the civil war. In 2002 AmeriCares joined in a second in-country partnership with the Fundación Salvadorena para la Salud y el Desarrollo Humano (FUSAL). Both the Order of Malta and FUSAL operate their own clinics in poor and underserved regions. AmeriCares product donations help them to stretch limited budgets to reach more patients. Malta and FUSAL also distribute AmeriCares-donated medicines and supplies to hundreds of health care facilities both large and small, including hospitals, clinics, health outposts and homes for children and the elderly.

Malnutrition Reduced for Children and Expectant Mothers
AmeriCares contributes both financial and in-kind support to Libras de Amor (Pounds of Love), FUSAL’s signature nutrition program. Established in 2004, Libras de Amor strives to significantly reduce malnutrition in children under the age of 5 and expectant and nursing mothers through community outreach, therapeutic feeding and grassroots education. AmeriCares delivers nutritional supplements including vitamins, folic acid and therapeutic feeding for Libras de Amor’s newest field sites in the rural municipality of Santa Ana, where as many as 33 percent of the population is malnourished — significantly higher than the national average — and where crops and water sources were destroyed during the simultaneous eruption of the Ilamatepec volcano and Hurricane Stan.