Country: Peru

Length of Trip: 1 Week

Trips per Year to Latin America: 4

Cost: Not available

Urban/Rural: Both

Type of Volunteer: Physician/mid-level provider, Nurse, Healthcare-related trainee

Type of Organization: Secular NGO

Type of Clinic: Mobile or Informal Clinic, Standing Clinic

Description:

To serve people in great need, Amazon Promise has built a 2000-square-foot clinic in the middle of the poorest area of Belén. Our goal is to provide free services at the clinic at least twice per month, but this requires operational funding and resources. Your donation helps us attain that goal.

Belén is a community of grinding poverty. Most people cannot afford health care, and government services are under-funded and mostly inadequate. No NGO has a perpetual, organized presence on the ground in Belén, let alone one focused on child and maternal health.

With donations from the Australian organization Girls On Top Amazon Promise constructed the initial building in the lower zone of Belen in the Fall of 2009. Like surrounding buildings it sits on stilts to accommodate the seasonal flooding of Belen by the Itaya River. We held our first clinic there in February 2010. In the Summer of 2010 with a donation from a group of French medical students from the organization 'Les Gondoliers Amazone', a large waiting room was added adjacent to the clinic facility. In November 2010 our friends at Engineers Without Borders added a water purification system with a sink, compost toilet and even a shower. In November of 2014, along with the NGO Toilets For People, we began a pilot program installing low-cost composting toilets in several houses located near the Belen Clinic. Our vision is to improve the health of the citizens of Belén by increasing the number of clinics we hold there, enhancing the quality and capacity of our facility as we go.

Volunteering

Most come down for our medical expeditions to remote locations in the tributaries of the Amazon. Since 1993 we have conducted routine medical outreach, training, and education in 40 remote villages. Our teams consist of medical, dental and non-medical volunteers who work alongside our seasoned American and Peruvian staff to serve the needs of over 5,000 people each year. We generally conduct 4-6 expeditions per year and those expeditions are 1-4 weeks in length.

Organizational Base: Newburyport, Massachusetts

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