The Typical Mano a Mano Clinic – Where are They Located?

With our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Bolivia, Mano a Mano has now completed 142 health clinics throughout Bolivia.

You can see where these clinics are located on our Project Map (from the picklist, select “health” to see clinic projects), but we also want to give a better idea of where these clinics are, and especially how long they take to get to for our staff in Cochabamba.

The vast majority of our clinic projects are located in the Altiplano – in small rural communities 7,000-14,000 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains.

On the road to a clinic in the municipality of Icla – an 11 hour drive one-way for Mano a Mano Bolivia staff

On the road to a clinic in the municipality of Icla. Many projects are inaccessible during the rainy season when rivers become too deep to cross (this pic is about a month after the end of the rainy season).

Mano a Mano Clinics and Travel Times

The Typical Mano a Mano Clinic

The typical Mano a Mano clinic, on average, is 307.5 kilometers from Cochabamba and a 6.4 hour drive one-way.

• Average Distance: 307.5 kilometers, Average Drive Time: 6.4 hours
• Median Distance: 180 kilometers, Median Drive Time: 4 hours

Clinics Close to Cochabamba

44% of Mano a Mano clinics (60 clinics) are 3 hours or less from Cochabamba; 12% of those clinics (16 clinics) are less than an hour away.

Maica Central clinic located in the city of Cochabamba.

Clinics 3-10 Hours Away

30% of clinics (42 clinics) are between 3 hours and 10 hours away.

Mano a Mano’s 100th clinic project – a maternal/infant hospital in Mizque – is a 4-hour drive from Cochabamba.

Clinics 10+ Hours Away

26% of clinics (36 clinics) are 10 or more hours away from Cochabamba. The furthest, our Cristo Rey Riberalta clinic, is 1,500 kilometers from Cochabamba and a 4-hour plane ride to get there. It would take 30-40 hours to drive one-way! Incidentally, the Cristo Rey Riberalta clinic was completed exactly 10 years ago (December 5, 2003), and like all of our clinic projects is still in operation, with no direct ongoing funding.

One of our most recent clinic projects – the expansion of the clinic in San Jacinto, completed in November 2013, is an 11-hour drive.

These distant projects demonstrate the challenges we face to work in rural Bolivia. The isolated locations are one reason why these infrastructure projects are so desperately needed and requested by the communities, but there aren’t many organizations that can commit to completing these projects as the long travel times and distance put a heavy strain on staff and resources. This is one of many reasons why our aviation program is so important; it allows Mano a Mano to reach distant communities much more efficiently, especially in emergencies.

The chart below shows the percentage of Mano a Mano clinics that are a given distance from Cochabamba (with 138 clinics reporting).

Clinic Travel Time

Special thanks to Mano a Mano intern Emily Rojer for putting this information together!