Médicos Sin Fronteras (MSF) es una organización que trabaja de forma independiente, neutral e imparcial ante cualquier poder religioso, militar o político. En lo que se conoce como trabajo de terreno, tiene más de 22mil trabajadores ya sea contratados en forma local por el país o internacionalmente; se sustenta gracias a sus más de 4 millones de socios y colaboradores de todo el mundo. Realiza trabajos de acción médica y humanitaria en más de 50 países. En Paraguay actualmente realizan ese trabajo de terreno en el Departamento de Boquerón, Chaco, con oficinas en Mariscal Estigarribia y en Asunción. ¿Por qué Paraguay?, bueno, existe una enfermedad que ataca en forma silenciosa a nuestros compatriotas que viven en zonas rurales, a veces, en condiciones extremas lo cual permite que ese hábitat sea especial para la proliferación de la vinchuca, un insecto que transmite el Mal de Chagas a través de su picadura. Médicos Sin Fronteras viaja en forma casi diaria a varios puntos de Boquerón, donde ciertos pobladores de compañías indígenas (y de otras poblaciones en general) sufren esta enfermedad, para ofrecerles el tratamiento médico adecuado de forma totalmente gratuita. Tuve la fortuna de conocer sus operaciones gracias a un trabajo fotográfico y de videodocumental que realicé para ellos; que consistía en obtener los testimonios de pacientes que sufren esta enfermedad maldita, debido a que existe un grave peligro a nivel latinoamericano que es el de la falta de producción de este medicamento utilizado para el tratamiento que se llama Beznidazol. Para las grandes empresas productoras y farmacéuticas, los prácticamente 10 a 15 millones de personas que sufren el Mal de Chagas, no son números viables para la realización de este medicamento, porque en un gran porcentaje se trata de personas de escasos recursos que no pueden costearse dicho medicamento. Hoy les invito a conocer un poco más no sólo sobre el trabajo MSF en Paraguay, sino también a acompañarme en este viaje por lugares alejados del suelo chaqueño, conocer más sobre el tratamiento y el Mal de Chagas, un mal que mata en silencio. | Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is an organization that works independently, neutral and impartial to any religious power, military or political. In what is known as field work, has more than 22mil workers either recruited locally by the country or internationally, is supported by its more than 4 million members and contributors from around the world. Conducts medical and humanitarian action in over 50 countries. In Paraguay currently conducting field work in the Department of Boqueron, Chaco, with offices in Mariscal Estigarribia and Asunción. Why Paraguay?, Well, there is a disease that attacks silently to our compatriots who live in rural areas, sometimes in extreme conditions allowing this special habitat to the proliferation of the kissing bug, an insect that transmits Chagas disease through its bite. Doctors Without Borders traveling almost daily to various parts of Boqueron, where certain residents of Indian companies (and other people in general) suffer from this disease, to provide adequate medical treatment for free. I had the fortune to meet its operations through a photographic and videodocumental I did for them, that was to obtain testimony from patients suffering from this disease damn, because there is a serious threat throughout Latin America that is the lack production of this drug used for treatment called Beznidazol. For large manufacturers and pharmacists, approximately 10 to 15 million people suffering from Chagas disease, are not viable numbers for the realization of this drug, because it is a large percentage of poor people who can not afford the medication. Today I invite you to learn more not only about MSF's work in Paraguay, but also to join me in this journey through places Chaco off the ground, learn about treatment and Chagas disease, a disease that kills in silence. |
September 2011, 18:24 pm - After several of traveling, hours we arrive at the MSF headquarters in Mariscal Estigarribia, where employees and the evening received us with a warm and friendly welcome.
The Project Director of Chagas BOPA (Bolivia and Paraguay), Henry Rodriguez (from Colombia) shows me the map of Boqueron, and the places where MSF works tirelessly, not only in the treatment of Chagas patients, but also in prevention and care.
On this trip, I met the points marked on this map. 1) Mariscal Estigarribia, MSF headquarters, 2) PHU (Public Health Unit) of Pirizal, 3) Nivacle company of Mistolar , 4) Nivacle company of Campo Ampú.
08:20 - About 3 kilometers from Mariscal Estigarribia we arrived at the intersection of Picada 500 and the Line 1, communal routes of hardness and talc. This endless road that we see is the Line 1.
13:30 - After approximately three hours drive, we arrived at PHU Pirizal. While awaiting the arrival of the first patients to start filming, I walked a little around. A pond of water behind the PHU is completely dry, and we see a typical landscape of the Chaco's soil, quartered in times of drought, which not only shows no mercy to the earth but also the vegetation.
In this area of Chaco the vegetation has an impressive recurrence, where the trees have that look gloomy and excessively branched, as if each one of its ends sought desperately to break through their leaves, and get out of the stifling heat that sometimes reaches up to 50°C. So the thorny bushes, in a way that can protect themselves from herbivorous animals.
17:40 - The preparations for dinner has started, which would be a homemade chicken stew. Don Juan (MSF) is taking care for cleaning the chicken (photo by @iarapy). |
18:50 - The sun had almost completely hidden behind the horizon and only left us with the gloom of his last dying rays. Around the USF we had prepared our tents for the night later, in minutes we reach the dinner time.
The work of an MSF doctor is hard and sacrificed. I dedicate this picture of the Milky Way taken from Pirizal, to Lola's father (she's a doctor who was with us that night) and a couple of hours later she receive the tragic news of his death. He should be in a better place in the sky. Security policies of MSF do not allow overnight trips, so we accompany late into the night in her pain, and early in the morning she would leave the ground work to take the first bus heading to the capital country.
09:30 - We had woken up early (04:30) due to the event mentioned to say goodbye to Lola and change the logistics of operations, since one of the trucks would take she and we had to make the tour of the areas explained above (2, 3 and 4). On the way to Mistolar (3), the expertise of experienced driver Don Carlos, was unable against the fierceness of the talc of Chaco, and less than 1.5 miles Mistolar we stucked.
We spent several minutes with the shovels (mandatory equipment on all trucks of MSF), drawing a huge amount of sand, placing sticks, stones and trunk on wheels so we have grip to the ground (photo by @iarapy).
Lucel, Fausto and Iara watch the fight between man and nature that was unleashed in front of our eyes. Finally Carlos managed to get us out of trouble and continue the rest of the way to reach Mistolar.
MSF operates effectively in Paraguay since October 2010, maintaining a low profile and acting directly on areas of risk. Lucel Sotelo (MSF doctor) examines the record of a patient in the Nivaclé community of Mistolar.
Fausto Pintos (center), MSF official born in Boqueron, accompanied us on this journey, a very good and enjoyable person. He is responsible for information, education and communication in Paraguay with respect to Chagas disease.
Lucel and Eusebio (nivacle from Mistolar serves as a liaison and translator), prepare the Beznidazol daily doses for the patient.
Maria Campos (a woman from Mistolar) watches her Beznidazol dosage form. The doctors are training people to maintain and deliver treatment according to the daily doses. Chagas disease is the cause of what is known as sudden death, and can reside in the body for decades in a phase that is known as chronic indeterminate. Patients are often unaware they have this disease, today anyone who has been exposed to a bite in rural areas can have it without knowing.
11:32 - Finished the work on Mistolar, we returned by what is known as Line 10 (or tenth), and we stopped to observe a roadside pond.
One of the few jakaré that are living in the pond lies in the cool water. These jakaré are totally exposed because unscrupulous people hunt them to sell their skin or in the worst cases, unaware people that just can't see wild animals roaming freely. I wonder, having lots of chicken, beef, fish, ¿is it a matter of life or death to eat jakaré meat? Let them live.
Lucel attempts to communicate with the base at Mariscal Estigarribia through iridium. Incredibly had areas where there was no communication in the vast and inhospitable Chaco. And even less mobile signal in that area.
Square with the flag flying in front of the III Corps 1st. Cavalry Division in Boqueron.
Blowing sand and dust in the Line 10 that connects Pirizal with Pedro P. Peña. We are now on our way to Campo Ampú.
13:10 - With the MSF team finally we arreive to the Nivaclé community of Campo Ampú (on the map above is the point 4), a place situated about 800kms (in road) of Asunción.
A man comes over to the health post in Campo Ampú to receive a dose of Beznidazol and be examined by Lucel.
Lucel examines the list of patients accompanied by Cecilia Segundo who like Eusebio in Mistolar, she does the job of translator and liaison en Campo Ampú.
A patient waits for the check of your data by Lucel to determine whether it she was doing the treatment correctly. The Beznidazol often have undesirable effects in patients as itching or headache, but MSF doctors have everything they need to control such situations. For Chagas disease there is no cure to this day, that is why treatment is the only one who can control and eliminate the disease, only that it remains in the body in an indeterminate state and every few years one must further checkups.
A few men from Campo Ampú awaiting outside the health post their ladies, who continue treatment. MSF currently has the complete treatment for many people in the Chaco, but the danger now lies in the shortage of Beznidazol for other people with this disease. Is that what we came to shooting, the testimony of these people that follow and comply with treatment. Beznidazol currently are not produced, because what I mentioned before at the beginning of POST, since for these Paraguayans can not access a pharmacy and Beznidazol is not a product of massive pharmaceutical sales. In large corporations, they simply do not care about these people.
A lady and her daughter walk down the field health of Campo Ampú, to receive a dose of treatment.
16:07 - After the fieldwork in Campo Ampú, we were back in the endless Line 1, towards Mariscal Estigarribia.
08:56 - Third day of filming, we would in the Laboratory of Regional Hospital Boqueron, where the laboratory diagnosis for patients with Chagas or detections. In the back of the hospital, a large samu'u awaits int access.
Dr. Marta Terol -MSF official- working in the laboratory with blood samples of patients, which were collected in field work (screening). The work here is done in conjunction with biochemical of plant, of the regional hospital (pictur by @iarapy).
Fourth day of filming, we are in MSF headquarters. Here we see the bus Chagas, which began its journey in Bolivia in 2009 and runs through the cities and communities, promoting the dissemination of information about the disease. It starts from the department of Boqueron, Chaco region, where MSF is coordinating a project for care and treatment of it. In this area live the 3% of Paraguay's population and more than half of its inhabitants belong to indigenous peoples. These populations are isolated and most vulnerable in the country.
The bus on his travels not only teaches about Chagas disease and its danger, but also about how spraying actions (through SENEPA) in places where they live kissing bugs, which are the vectors transmitters. Fumigation and maintain a clean and hygienic, thereby circumventing the proliferation of these insects.
In different populations, MSF teaches about the kissing bug (Chicha Guasu) on the importance of spraying, on the treatment, the medical care and especially the danger for the future, because as I said earlier, it is a silent disease that people don't know it can have on the body, and whose treatment is made difficult by the unavailability Beznidazol in pharmacies and hospitals .
I take my lasts minutes in Mariscal Estigarribia for a picture made by @iarapy, since I am always behind the camera on my travels. After the final film in the waste disposal plant, it's time to back to Asuncion.
Como pueden ver, el trabajo de MSF en Paraguay es encomiable, donde sus funcionarios -entre médicos paraguayos y extranjeros- llegan a donde otros médicos no lo hacen, a donde el Estado fracasa; personas nobles y de gran labor humanitaria que cambiaron la comodidad de sus consultorios, del aire acondicionado, de la luz y el agua caliente, por el vertiginoso clima e inhospitalidad que sólo el Chaco puede ofrecer. El Mal de Chagas no sólo se encuentra en la Región Occidental, sino que en los departamentos aledaños a Central también existen casos encontrados de personas que padecen esta enfermedad. Es por eso que no debemos tomarnos el tema a la ligera, porque todos podríamos estar expuestos. Una buena educación en limpieza en las casas (sobre todo las que tienen patio), ayudan a prevenirlo, pero si vamos al caso las campañas de erradicación de focos de proliferación de Aedes Aegypty (mosquito transmisor del Dengue) han fracasado también, en donde cada año cumplimos el mismo ciclo que se avecina en los próximos meses donde los enfermos por dengue comienzan a expandirse, y la poca conciencia en general no hace mucho tampoco para eliminar ese mal. Ahora tenemos otro mal para sumar a esa falla que tenemos como ciudadanos, como sociedad y habitantes de este hermoso lugar geográfico en el que tuvimos suerte de nacer o vivir. Pueden conocer más sobre Médicos Sin Fronteras en su Fanpage, informarse sobre cómo ayudar o sobre oportunidades de empleo en Paraguay o en otros países del mundo a los que llegarán donde otros doctores no llegan, porque para estos doctores, funcionarios o voluntarios, no existen fronteras. | As you can see, the work of MSF in Paraguay is commendable, where its workers -among foreign and Paraguayan doctors- go where other doctors do not, where the state fails; these are people noble with a great humanitarian work that changed the comfort of their offices, air conditioning, light and hot water for the extreme climate and inhospitable that the Chaco only offer. Chagas disease is not only found in the Western Region, but in the provinces adjacent to Central there are found also cases of people suffering from this disease. That's why we should not take the matter lightly, because we could all be exposed. A good education in cleaning houses (especially those with front or backyards), could help to prevent it, but in example the eradication of foci of proliferating for the Aegypty Aedes (Dengue mosquito) have also failed, and each year we face the same cycle that is coming in the next few months where dengue patients begin to expand, and low awareness in general also does little to eliminate this evil. Now we have another evil to add to this failure we have as citizens, as a society and people of this beautiful geographic location in which we were lucky to be born or live. You can learn more about Doctors Without Borders in its Fanpage, find out how to help or for employment opportunities in Paraguay or elsewhere in the world where you can reach where other doctors do not come, because for these doctors, officials or volunteers, there are no borders. |
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