Health

Photo: David Allen/CWS

For a teenager, the responsibility of looking out for the health concerns of 29 families might be daunting. For Gladys Kuarasi (pictured right), the role of being her community's health promoter has instilled in her an ambition to be a doctor. It gives her the motivation to complete secondary school and go on to college. Gladys keeps her eye on the health of all 120 people who live in her community, Pananti. As a trained health promoter, she can also use first aid supplies.

Gladys is a vital link in monitoring the health care in her community. The nearest health clinic is a six-mile walk away. Others in the area are trained in traditional medicine, and they treat illnesses when the sick cannot see a doctor. Midwives assist with most births in the community. CWS partners in the Chaco region of South America are working together with indigenous communities to improve health and well-being, support women’s rights and education opportunities, defend and promote indigenous rights, gain titles to ancestral lands and territories, and gain access to governmental policymaking and development initiatives.

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