Ecuador

Ecuador is located in South America. It is known worldwide for its nature and the warmth of its people. Even though the country is now considered an upper middle-income country, great inequalities remain.

In collaboration with the local community, we build a health centre in the village “La Y de la Laguna” in the reserve Mache Chindul in Northwestern Ecuador in 2001. In this rainforest region, people are often poor and did not have access to health care before FHN came into the picture. The centre offers primary care services and public health activities. The latter includes outreach campaigns (e.g. for vaccinating children) and health promotion.

To run the health centre, we signed a contract with the Ministry of Health and a local health committee. The local health committee works closely with the Ministry of Health who owns the health center. The Ministry finances selected staff members and provides medicines. FHN provides additional technical, human resource and financial support. For example, we provide funding for the administrator at the health center and send public health volunteers.