Medical attention with our Soy Capaz banner in the background
an HIV lecture
Belen
Belen
HIV prevention team at its desk
This week, Amazon Promise continues its free medical attention in the poorest part of the city of Iquitos, Belen. We have eight great medical students from Yale and the King's College in London who work with a staff of Peruvian doctors. It is humid and still very hot, but everyone works at full speed regardless, from eight in the morning till eight in the night, attending to the underserved population of the "city on water" of Belen (its proximity to the river causes that during winter, the water reaches all the way to the doorsteps that are actually six or seven feet above ground, and so each house stands on pylons. We usually find a place for our clinics underneath the houses at this time of the year.)
Public HIV prevention lectures are an integral part of the health care Amazom Promise provides, and so we are on the grounds each day early in the morning. Our promoter works with promoters from a local organization, Lazos de Vida that consists solely of people living with HIV. These local heroes and heroines go out to lecture, do outreach in hospitals, lead support groups, and constantly appeal to the local government to support the fight against HIV. Some positive changes have been made: free condoms are available in the medical centers and hospitals in the city if Iquitos. Last month, for the first time, HIV testing occurred at some of the medical centers (HIV testing is performed regularly and for free now in the two state hospitals). Nevertheless, we are faced with a full-blown HIV epidemic here in the city of Iquitos. Amazon Promise thus not only organizes public lectures, but also performs HIV testing, counseling, and does referrals to hospitals for antiretroviral treatment.
This time, it is Victor from Lazos de Vida together with Elena from Amazon Promise to do the work, together with Puanch, an Achuar tribe Health Promoter who is continuing his training with our team. His presence here is very exciting, since when he is trained in HIV prevention, he will be able to convey the message to his people in their own language. We see many STD infections, and we test those patients for HIV. We did have a fourteen-year-old girl at our counseling table...
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