Our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Bolivia partners with Bolivian communities to provide access to healthcare and education through the construction of clinics and schools, as well as providing complementary programs that support these same goals. In the first half of 2022, we completed 2 new clinics and a new school – all during the last week of March 2022 – with 2 other clinics nearing completion, and other projects in process. Mano a Mano’s network of 178 clinic projects in Bolivia had 559,439 patient visits in the first half of 2022.

New Health & Education Projects Built in the First Half of 2022

Chirusi Rosario school
Guadalupe clinic
Estaño Colorado clinic
Villa Nueva clinic (completed, but not formally dedicated)
San Rafael clinic (nearly complete)

Chirusi Rosario School – Dedicated March 25, 2022

Mano a Mano’s school project in Chirusi Rosario was formally dedicated with the community on Friday, March 25th! The school is two floors and six classrooms, and provides a more comfortable environment for local students to learn and for teachers to teach. This is our 67th school project built in Bolivia since 2003. Every Mano a Mano project is a partnership: thank you to our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Bolivia, who oversees the process of building schools from start to finish; our counterpart Mano a Mano Nuevo Nuevo who is also helping with this specific school project; the local community of Chirusi Rosario and municipal government of Punata; and the US funders that provided the seed money that made this project possible!

Guadalupe Clinic – Dedicated March 30, 2022

Mano a Mano formally dedicated a new clinic in the community of Guadalupe on March 30th! Every Mano a Mano project is a partnership: thank you to our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Bolivia, who oversees the process of building clinics from start to finish; the local community of Guadalupe and municipal government of Santa Rosa del Sara that participated throughout the process; and the US funders that provided the seed money that made this project possible! This clinic was dedicated in memory of Mary K. Wick.

Estaño Colorado Clinic – Dedicated March 31, 2022

Mano a Mano dedicated a new clinic in the community of Estaño Colorado on March 31st! This project is a partnership with Mano a Mano Bolivia and Mano a Mano International Partners; the local community of Estaño Colorado and municipal government of Chimore that participated throughout the process; and donations in honor of Virginia Carpenter Ver Ploeg that made this clinic possible. Thank you to the many people involved!

Villa Nueva Clinic – Construction Nearly Complete (July 2022)

Construction of our new clinic in Villa Nueva is nearly complete! There is still more work to be done before the project is finished and can be formally dedicated, but we are happy to see the progress on this clinic.

Villa Nueva Clinic.

San Rafael Clinic – Construction Completed July 27, 2022

Construction of our new clinic in San Rafael is complete! (There is still some work to be done before the clinic can be formally dedicated.) San Rafael is located in the municipality of Villa Tunari, province of Chapare, department of Cochabamba. The community has a population of 4,800 and is a 3-hour drive from Cochabamba. Construction began on December 20, 2021 and was completed on July 27, 2022.

San Rafael clinic.

Why We Build Health Clinics in Rural Bolivia

With each clinic Mano a Mano builds, the goals are the same:

Improve maternal and infant health.
Increase the number of medically-assisted births.
Easier access to family planning services.
Access to primary care and immunizations.
Stronger preventative care and public health education.
Improve access to government public health programs.
Permanent training of health personnel.

Ongoing Funding for Mano a Mano Clinic Staff in Bolivia

With Mano a Mano clinics, they become part of the Bolivian healthcare system and are the official provider for their catchment area, making them eligible for services and reimbursement through Health Ministry-funded programs. All staff salaries in Mano a Mano’s clinics are paid for by sources within Bolivia. We currently have 534 doctors, nurses, and dentists working in Mano a Mano’s network of clinics, and Mano a Mano does not pay for any staff salaries on an ongoing basis. With this partnership agreement, we can ensure that there is stable funding in place, and we can continue to complete new infrastructure projects in communities that currently do not have local access to care.

Source of funding by Mano a Mano staff position in Mano a Mano clinics – first half of 2022.

Continuing Health Education

A critical component of Mano a Mano’s health programs in Bolivia is to provide health education:

to communities through weekend health clinics providing basic services
to Mano a Mano’s clinic staff through continuing health education workshops
to medical professionals from other organizations

These programs are managed and administered by Mano a Mano Bolivia, and serve a complementary role to the construction of community clinics throughout rural Bolivia. Although workshops continue to be somewhat limited in 2022 due to COVID, Mano a Mano Bolivia hosted 9 health education workshops for 655 attendees in the first half of 2022.

Watch this video to learn more about Mano a Mano Bolivia’s training programs.

Providing Medical Supplies & Equipment

Mano a Mano International (our St. Paul office) provides medical supplies and equipment sent from Minnesota to Mano a Mano’s programs in Bolivia. Mano a Mano Bolivia made 261 distributions of medical supplies and equipment to Mano a Mano clinics, other hospitals and healthcare organizations, individuals, jails, and other institutions. Mano a Mano Bolivia also has a workshop location where they build desks, chairs, beds, and other needed equipment for schools & clinics so that when we turn the project over to the community it is fully furnished.

In Mano a Mano Bolivia’s workshop in El Abra, Cochabamba, staff are busy making desks for a Mano a Mano Bolivia infrastructure project. Watch this video to learn more.

Interview with Chirusi Teacher About Their New School, and Staff & Patients About the Palca Clinic – June 2022

In June 2022, we checked in with community members about 2 of our completed projects: the new school in Chirusi Rosario, 3 months after its completion; and the health clinic in Palca that was completed in 2019.

Chirusi Rosario School

Mabel Delgadillo Correa is a teacher at the school, and she talks about the impact that the new school has for the community. (The Chirusi Rosario school portion of the video starts at the 2:05 mark. It’s a 5-minute video overall about our comprehensive Punata Regional Complex project in the area.)

Palca Clinic

On August 20, 2019 Mano a Mano dedicated a new health clinic in Palca, Bolivia. Staff from Mano a Mano Bolivia visited the community in June 2022 to talk with clinic staff and patients:

Thank You!

Every Mano a Mano project is a partnership, with many people working together – thanks to the local communities; municipal governments; the Bolivian Ministry of Health; donors and volunteers in the US, Bolivia, and other countries; and our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Bolivia that oversees and manages these health & education projects!

Kids in their new classroom in Chirusi Rosario.

There is always more work to be done: we currently have one clinic that is under construction, 2 communities with signed agreements for clinics, and 32 communities on our clinic project waiting list. (We have 36 communities on our waiting list for community projects – schools, teacher housing, community bathrooms – as well.)