Bolivia Weekly » Health

Bolivian Health Workers To Strike

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:21:50 +0000

Hospital Germán Busch in Trinidad, Bolivia. Photo from Flickr by Gregory Jaffe.

The Bolivian Medical Council announced yesterday a 24 hour strike to reject the government’s increase of their work day from six to eight hours without compensation. Health Minister Juan Carlos Calvimonte said that the bill was published last Monday and will be approved within 60 days. The President of the Medical Council, Alfonso Barrios said that these forceful measures were adopted because the president refused to meet with them to discuss the situation. Barrios said that the health worker strike will be nation-wide except for in Santa Cruz where they are on red alert from dengue. Meanwhile, the government and the National Confederation of Neighborhood Councils have formed an agreement whereby any health workers refusing to work eight hours per day will be replaced by one of the 5,000 Bolivian health workers trained in Cuba.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/nacional/20120201/paro-medico-de-24-horas-contra-decreto_158784_331548.html

New Cabinet Sets Longer Hours for Health-Care Workers

Matthew Grace — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:29:03 +0000

Bolivian President Evo Morales issued a decree yesterday morning that will enforce an eight-hour workday in the health sector, despite protests from health-care workers, who say that the shift from a six-hour workday would be too demanding.

At a press conference, the new health minister, Juan Carlos Calvimontes, asked health-care workers to comply with the new regulation in order to allow the population to gain better access to health care.

But according to the president of the Medical College in La Paz, Luis Larrea, the World Health Organization and the the Pan-American health Organization recommend that health-care workers limit their workday to six hours. “There will be a conflict, and it is not because [health-care workers] do not want to work,” Larrea said. “Within six hours, a doctor sees 30 patients. It is exhausting.”

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/politica/20120124/decretan-ocho-horas-de-trabajo-en-sector-salud-a-pesar-del-malestar_157868_329449.html

Chilean Tourist Dies In Copacabana

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:08:29 +0000

Three young Chileans were on vacation in Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca when one of them, Sergio Gachón began feeling ill. In the small town hospital they prescribed Gachón penicillin without ascertaining that Gachón had a severe penicillin allergy. Gachón died later that day in his hostel. Gachón’s family said that this was a case of medical negligence while Chile consul in Bolivia said that a full investigation and repatriation of the remains were pending.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.eldeber.net/eldeber.htm

Handicapped Marchers Win Government Concession

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:04:46 +0000

The government has signed an accord with handicapped citizens who had been marching in protest. The accord will create a commission to study whether Bolivia can afford a monthly welfare payment to handicapped individuals. The marchers are asking for Bs. 3000 per month ($428 or roughly four times Bolivia’s minimum wage).

The La Paz president of the Federation of Handicapped People, Libertad Ramírez, said that they have merely suspended, not cancelled, the marchers. “The government has agreed to give a subsidy to people in series and very serious condition. So as of the 26 of January we are going to sit ourselves down and work on this law.”

In addition to locating sources of funding, the commission will conduct a cencsus of handicapped people in Bolivia and assign them to categories. Meanwhile, the government will begin giving a subsidy to the seriously handicapped that consists of food and medicine. The commission will also consider mandating that more handicapped people be employed in the public sector.

To learn more in Spanish see:

Bolivia to Invest in Coca-Tea Plant to Fight Diabetes

Matthew Grace — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:55:55 +0000

The Bolivian government will install an industrial pant to produce mate–or tea–based on the coca leaf to be used by physicians in the treatment of diabetes and obesity.

Germain Loza, the deputy minister of Coca and Integral Development, said that the project will produce mate from the dried leaves of the coca plant, which will be crushed and sweetened with stevia, a South American–native plant used as a noncaloric sweetener.

The annual production capacity of the plant will be 92 tons of packaged tea bags for domestic consumption. A box of twenty tea bags will cost slightly less than US$1.

Loza said that the Bolivian government will invest Bs.3.4 million in the project, or approximately US$500,000.

To learn more in Spanish see:

http://www.la-razon.com/sociedad/Bolivia-elaborara-base-tratar-diabetes_0_1543645690.html

World Bank to Fund Food, Highway Development in 2012–2015

Matthew Grace — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:51:39 +0000

Photo by Neil Palmer (CIAT). General View, eastern Bolivia.

The World Bank announced yesterday that it will invest US$250 million in Bolivian rural development and highway infrastructure projects.

Oscar Avalle, the outgoing World Bank representative in Bolivia, met with Bolivian President Evo Morales yesterday to discuss development strategies and to introduce his successor, Faris Hadad Zervos, who will hold the post for the next three years. Avalle said that the US$250 million will go toward “food improvement” and road development, primarily in the San Buenaventura region of La Paz department and Rurrenabaque in Beni department.

Hadad said that the funds will also contribute to human development activities in maternal and child health and water and sanitation infrastructure to approximately one million people.

To learn more in Spanish see:

http://www.la-razon.com/economia/Banco-Mundial-apoyara-Bolivia-millones_0_1527447243.html

Tamiflu Drug Still Banned Despite Virus

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:47:17 +0000

Bolivian pharmacies have been prohibited from selling Tamiflu, the drug used against the A/H1N1 flu virus despite the prevalence and persistence of this strain in the country. Efraín Vallejos, Bolivia’s Director of Epidemiology said, “They could only sell it if there is a ministerial resolution, which we have already solicited, but there has still been no response.” Vallejos said that Bolivia bought supplies of Tamiflu but that they are soley administered by the Department of Health. In 2009 the A/H1N1 flu strain caused fear in Bolivia and people were buying 10 tablets of Tamiflu on the black market for as much as Bs. 240 ($35). Vallejos said that the drug is provided for free, but not given to everyone, “There should be a medical criteria as to when to give it and when not.”

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/local/20111014/esperan-orden-estatal-para-venta-de-tamiflu_145520_300525.html

Girl Dying of Rabies

admin — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 23:26:16 +0000

A 7 year old girl who was bitten by her puppy is dying of rabies in Cochabamba hospital Pediátrico Manuel Ascencio Villarroel. Her parents did not know about the disease and thus did not seek medical attention until the virus had spread to her nervous system- a stage of rabies that is incurable and 100% fatal. The girl was hospitalized last Tuesday with symptoms of rabies and is now close to death. The child’s parents are from a rural area in the North of the Potosí department, Bolivia’s poorest, and brought their daughter to the emergency room with a high fever. The girl had found it in the street and taken it to her house. Her parents did not want the puppy to stay, but conceded after seeing their daughter so happy playing with it. The father said, “The puppy died one morning. We didn’t know anything, we didn’t understand why, we just thought it died because it was skinny.” Three months later, his daughter’s fever began, but her parents thought nothing of the dead puppy that had bitten her. Rabies is easily preventable if the vaccine is administered immediately after infection. A vaccine booster helps ensure that in the case of infection, further vaccination will prevent the fatal disease from occurring. Rabies is common in Bolivian street dogs and feral animals, so travelers should seek immediate medical attention if bitten by any animal.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/local/20111008/el-padre-de-la-nina-con-mal-de-rabia-desconocia-la_144824_298928.html

Smoke From Amazonian Fires Close Bolivia’s Airports

admin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:52:26 +0000

Smoke from burning Amazonian fires has engulfed much of Bolivia in an annual tradition called the Chaqeo whereby farmers burn brush and forest to clear land. Many of the fires have burned out of control and at least 394 families had fled their homes as a result. The skies over major cities like Santa Cruz were so choked with smoke that their airports had to be closed. The Bolivian airport authority (AASANA) has closed 34 of the country’s 36 airports midsize airports, leaving only the airports of departmental capitals open. Amazonian airports are the worst affected, and an Aerocon plane with 9 passengers was recently lost. The Environment and Rural Development ministry reported that as of September 7th, there were 16,368 individual fires burning as part of the chaqeo. Many of these fires have burned out of control, destroying the homes of 126 families and causing 394 to flee. The worst fire was in San Andrés, 155 kilometers from Trinidad where 32 homes were lost in fires originally st by farmers who believe the fire makes their land more fertile. Despite the untold devastation to the world’s most important ecosystem, no human lives have been lost yet in this year’s fires.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.la-razon.com/version.php?ArticleId=137146&EditionId=2646

Bolivian Women Affected by Uterine/Breast Cancers at Alarming Rate

Matthew Grace — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 16:29:57 +0000

The Santa Cruz ombudsman, Hernan Cabrera, revealed this Wednesday that every two days nine women die of uterine disease and breast cancer in the eastern department of Santa Cruz—and that the diseases are among the leading causes of death for women across the country.

Women are affected differently by the diseases depending on whether they live in urban or rural locations due to social factors including poverty and cultural reasons.

However, there are no official statistics recorded for the diseases, making it impossible to determine accurate mortality rates.

Earlier this year, the Bolivian Ministry of Health started the third round of a program to immunize young women and girls against the human papilloma virus, a leading cause of uterine cancer. The ministry is also offering free Pap tests, which can detect pre-cancerous conditions in women in time for effective treatment. Nevertheless, only 28 percent of Bolivian women have had a Pap test—32.2 percent of urban women, and only 18.7 percent of rural women.

To learn more in Spanish and English see:

http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483947207

http://www.boliviaweekly.com/health-program-vaccinates-50k-more-girls-against-hpv-ministry-encourages-free-pap-tests/1835/

http://apps.who.int/hpvcentre/statistics/dynamic/ico/country_pdf/BOL.pdf