The following research has been done about Venezuela, the humanitarian crisis that the country's population its experiencing at the moment, with an estimated number of IDP`s and refugees of 2.5 Million people.(1)
Venezuela is a country with an estimated population of 30 million people, currently is experiencing a political conflict that has been taking part since 1997 approximately, when ex-president Hugo chavez took the presidential power with a attack to the current president of the moment. Since then, the economy and the health indicators in Venezuela , have shown a decrease in the quality of life of people in the country.
Since the last 5 years, this crisis has increased its size due to many factors, but being one of the the lowering of the prices of oil, which represent`s approximately 98% of the countries GDP. This, has lead many people to leave a country that with a 85% estimated lack of medicines and health supplies, is not more able to offer dignity to the majority of its citizens. Besides this large amount of people living under poor conditions and with no basic health care needs, food insecurity and danger in the streets, the country still has a small percentage of people who is rich, giving for this a classification to the country of a gini's coefficient of 44.77 for the year 2006.(2)
health care, nutrition, shelter, protection, etc.
This is a list of three key public health issues which are currently present in the country, which are related to Water access, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH), Health Care and Protection.
WASH: NGO`s as Tierra viva and Coalición Clima 21 manage data which suggests that of the people living in Caracas, which is the capital city in Venezuela, 75% of the population do not receive supply of water regularly, with a 11% of the population also suggesting that the water that they do receive has caused them some sort of illnesses due to the lack of proper treatment processes.(3)
Healthcare: The president of the Venezuelan Federation of Pharmaceutics has declared already on 2018 stating that the country already presents a lack of medical supplies of 80% of the total demand needed for the patients. This scenario has also been presented in the main public hospitals of the country, which due to the lack of medicines and medical supplies have been forced to ask to the patients for the main supplies in order to operate them.
Two main problems that the pharmaceutical sector faces is the lack of access to dollars to buy the raw materials in order to manufacture the drugs, and also, summed to this, the regulation of prices that many time imposes prices that minimize the profit of the pharmaceuticals up to a point which is no longer sustainable to produce the drugs.
Protection: In the matter of protection, the country is also lacking the main security standards, with the statistics showing that for each 100 crimes committed, just 1 or 2 are being taken into account, which doesnt mean people is imprisoned, this mainly because prisons are already full of people and hasn`t been constructed any new ones since many years ago.
Lack of access to healthcare is one of the main issues that the country is facing at the moment, for this reason , there will be need of deep information on the subject in order to design programs in order to address this issue. The information that can be of big help in this reason is related mainly to the subject of perceived needs of the population, and then the estimated costs of programs in order to satisfy those needs with the least amount of resources possible. One of the main focuses in order to develop this programs will be the CBIO principles , (Census Based Impact Oriented) approach, with aims to give the population the services the perceive as the most needed.
There are possible interventions that can be done in order to support the country, we can name a few:
Supporting local NGOs in order to provide Breastfeeding Classes to mothers:
Breastfeeding is one practice that can achieve one of the biggest impacts on health. As already the ex-president of UNICEF stated, breastfeeding is easy to transport, economic and can provide children with the essential nutrients for a proper health. In a context like the one Venezuela is experiencing, this becomes more essential as it can prevent many diseases, that because of the lack of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies in the country, will be a lot more economic and easier to prevent than to cure.
Sending new and used (non-expired) medicines to Dispensaries and Hospitals:
Currently Venezuela is experiencing a lack of pharmaceuticals, that besides cannot be eliminated with only used medicines, can be some wise alleviate. Many people who might not have enough money to make a donation, could have some used medicines that maybe have some percentage of unused meds in the box. In this way, only the transportation cost will be needed in order to offer medicines to people in crisis in Venezuela. Some NGOs like Amarse Foundation, with its program Boxe`s of Hope Venezuela, are applying this program.
Supporting Venezuelans with cash transfers or Vouchers for needs than can be supplied by local markets in Venezuela:
Besides the current lack of essential goods in Venezuela, still there are some essential basic supplies than can be purchased in Venezuela, as for example Soap, Trash bags, and generic medicines. For this reason, it can be also good for some situations, to provide people with cash transfers in order to help them achieve a better status in life and to live with dignity. There is one program that is trying to act in this way, with the program Airdrop Venezuela, which is making an effort to send 1.000.000 USD in cryptocurrencies to people in Venezuela, the program can be found at https://airdropvenezuela.org/ .
Now, besides helping with the implementation of any of these programs, or others health programs, it is also very important the evaluation of the effectiveness, as this will prevent funds and efforts to be located in a program that isn't causing the desired effects. Because of these reason, there are some indicators that can be used in order to measure the effectiveness of the programs, we can name the following:
Deaths per 1000 per month on the first 6 to 12 months
Deaths per 1000 per month on the first 12 to 24 months
Percentage of mothers giving exclusive breastfeeding on the first 6 months.
Percentage of mothers giving complementary breastfeeding on the period between 6 months and 2 years.(4)
Disease rates
Sources:
Sources:
1- Unicef migrations flow in Latin America
2- Indicadores de Salud Global
3-Desabastecimiento de Agua Potable en Venezuela
4-Humanitarian Aid Impact Indicators
Collaborator:
Tommys Gonzalez BsC
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