Mexico / Compañeros En Salud

Dr. Flores assists Dr. Vidaurreta in caring for a patient with an injured foot, the type of on-site mentorship CES is highlighting.

The situation in Chiapas

The residents of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, have long struggled with poverty, political violence, and dismal health conditions. The Sierra region, located in the southeast of the state, is one of the most marginalized in the state of Chiapas. Our area of work borders and overlaps the El Triunfo biosphere, one of the most biodiverse areas on earth.

The recent ancestors of many people we work with today were indigenous people who fled the brutal labor conditions of coastal plantations to found their own towns and ejidos in the rugged mountain landscape. They have since developed the region into one of the richest sources of high-quality shade grown coffee in Mexico.

Very few sierra clinics have a doctor, and many clinics have each been without a permanent physician for five or more years. Faced with treacherous roads and a lack of communications infrastructure, local families are frequently unable to afford transportation to government or private health care facilities, let alone the cost of the consults and medicine.

Read more about the situation in Chiapas, and PIH's long history of work there.

PIH's work in Chiapas, Mexico

Building on over two decades of collaboration with supported project EAPSEC, in 2011 PIH registered an affiliate, Compañeros En Salud México (CES). The organization is dedicated to improving detection, treatment and outcomes of neglected health issues alongside marginalized communities of Chiapas.

One of CES's new medical resident's stands outside a recently opened clinic in the mountains of Chiapas.

CES works with existing rural government clinics to help them meet their full potential. This is consistent with PIH’s broad strategy of strengthening public sector health systems to serve the poorest members of society. To do this, CES works to improve staffing, supplies, and links with communities.

To improve staffing, CES recruits motivated Mexican physicians who are entering a required social service year to staff the rural clinics. In turn, CES aims to transform the social service year into a meaningful training experience, and build the next generation of social medicine physicians. The physicians receive regular mentoring visits, special training from Brigham and Women’s hospital residents, and take part in a global health seminars created in partnership with the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care. The program has already attracted many interested medical students and recent graduates from Mexico’s top universities, including Tecnológico de Monterrey.

In order to ensure that clinicians have all the tools they need to provide high quality care, CES supplements medicines, diagnostic equipment and supplies in its program clinics, utilizing a system designed to forecast needs and avoid stock-outs.

CES also works to build strong relationships with community members. The program is developing an accompaniment program of trained community members to help link patients with chronic or serious illnesses to ongoing care. CES also will coordinate closely with village health committees, village assemblies, women’s groups, schools, and other institutions to set priorities and plan programs.

CES currently operates in collaboration with two government health posts, and plans to expand to 5 additional clinics in August 2012.

Learn more about PIH's work in Mexico.