 |
in Panama |
| To date, the DOTS program has been implemented in 3% of indigenous communities in Panama. Global Fund grants will help health workers to reach 85% of these communities, and cut the mortality rate by half.
|
|
 |
Rosita: The patient who we visited today, Blanca Valdes had no desire to eat and every night she was coughing and spitting up blood and she was afraid and she said "Am I going to die?" |
|
|
  |
|
More than fifty thousand Kuna Indians live in the San Blas islands, off the Atlantic coast of Panama. Kunas are five times more likely to be infected with tuberculosis than others in Panama, and ten times more likely to die of the disease.
Health volunteer Ascanio Martinez, a Kuna Indian, is responsible for tuberculosis patients at the Health Center on Carti Sugtupu, and 25 small islands nearby. |
|
| |
The patient who came in today has had tuberculosis for a long time. Here the islands are far apart, so she can't come every day to take her treatment. That is why she sometimes stops the medicine. I was able to convince her relatives to bring her here so the doctor could examine her and give her some treatment.
Before, I was just a member of the community. I spent my time fishing, farming. Then there was a need here in the center for volunteers to give support to personnel in the tuberculosis program, so they chose me from within the community. |
|
|
  |
|
For the past two years, health volunteers in San Blas have been fighting TB using the method known as DOTS.
Dr. Gregorio Martinez is the Regional Director of Health, in Kuna Yala. |
|
| |
"For us, educating the community is the basic thing. And the volunteers are the "edge of our sword." DOTS means Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course. The advantage? We know that we can cure the patient if the patient is observed taking the complete course of medicine." |
|
|
  |
|
| When a patient like Sipu Balboa can't come to the clinic, health volunteers go to her. |
|
| |
Ascanio: Why did you leave the treatment?
Sipu: Because it's difficult to get to the clinic. I have to row two hours to get there.
Ascanio: How long were you taking your medication?
Sipu I stopped after one week.
Ascanio: Before DOTS, yes, there were more deaths here. At least 3 to 5 people died every month of tuberculosis. And very often they didn't come to the health center but tried to treat it with herbal medicine. Many died without even being diagnosed.
I had a patient who was in the terminal phase. Now I see him around, participating fully in his community. |
|
|
  |
|
|
|
|  | | | GLOBAL FUND PROGRAMS IN
PANAMA | | | Total Funding Request: | $553,817 | | Approved Maximum*: | $553,817 | | * total Approved Funding for Phase 1 & Phase 2 |
|
|
|
You are here: 
