Thanks to a strategic alliance between the University of Magdalena and the Malteser International Américas agency, a group of 23 health professionals undertook their training with scholarships in the second cohort of the Master’s Degree in Family and Community Health.
This is a milestone for the department of La Guajira; Therefore, nursing doctors and psychologists who practice in Wayúu and Arhuaco territories will acquire the knowledge with which they will contribute to closing gaps, transforming health and reducing the morbidity and mortality that these communities have suffered for years.
“We are strengthening capacities in a territory where there are high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality, malnutrition and other aspects associated with public health,” said Dr. Ángela Romero Cárdenas, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences. In addition, she pointed out that the agreement aims to qualify human talent to advance in the formulation of community social intervention projects.
The agreement is carried out within the framework of Malteser International’s MAP Health project, which has an emphasis on these rural and dispersed ethnic communities. Its manager, Roberto Palacio Olmedo, was at the first face-to-face meeting with the students and expressed the organization’s confidence in Unimagdalena.
“This allows us to create a special cohort to improve access to primary health care and reduce gaps in morbidity and mortality in the department. The University of Magdalena has worked hand in hand with Malteser from the beginning and has contributed a lot to the feasibility studies of the project,” said Roberto Palacio.
Unimgadalena is part of this cooperation initiative, addressing the needs of the territories from the root cause and providing knowledge and tools to achieve true transformations, as defended by the rector Pablo Vera Salazar.
Regarding this premise, student Mónica Alarcón Meza asserted: “many of the aid is welfare and finite in time, it attacks a specific problem and that’s it. But this project goes further: it provides training for those of us who are working on the health problems that La Guajira presents.”
According to Salomón Quintero Ramírez, also a beneficiary, with this training they will be able to formulate programs and strategies for the empowerment of communities: “We seek a change in epidemiological statistics regarding the causes of illness and death in the department.”
Of the 23 students covered by the agreement, 10 are workers from Anashiwaya IPSI, an indigenous health provider institution that serves as implementing partner of the MAP Health project. This group is joined by an Arhuaca nurse who is a beneficiary of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Scholarship awarded by the University of Magdalena and six other professionals from the region.
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