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« New Vehicle Smuggling Route Trespasses Uyuni | Home | Amalia Morales is Bolivia’s First Indigenous Female Judge » 7 in 10 Women Suffer from Chagas DiseasePosted: Nate on Feb 18 | Health In a new report from Doctors Without Borders, approximately 7 in 10 pregnant women in the Chaco region of Bolivia are reported to have Chagas disease. The sparsely populated region is home to indigenous communities and farming settlements which are at high risk of contact with insect vectors of the disease. Chagas, a disease endemic to the Americas, causes flu-like symptoms in its early stages but can lead to cardiovascular and digestive problems in addition to facial scarring later in life. Chagas, a blood-borne disease, is particularly dangerous for pregnant women who risk passing the disease onto their newborn children. Despite the National Plan for Chagas launched by the Ministry of Health between 2001 and 2005, the disease has not been brought under control in rural or urban areas. These new numbers worry the Assembly of the Guaraní Community, which noted that numbers have reached current levels as a result of lack of diagnostic and treatment options in the area. For more in Spanish see: http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483924155 |
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