Colombia - Health and Water Interventions - Médecins du Monde Canada 2016

March 2016 – Colombia continues to be plagued by a long-standing armed conflict. An estimated 6.5 million people are either displaced within the country or have sought refuge in Ecuador and Venezuela. Consequences of the conflict include forced displacement limited mobility of people goods and services forced recruitment of children and young people by armed groups as well as sexual and gender-based violence. In 2015 850 000 people were affected by mobility restrictions and constraints to access assistance and basic services. There are 5.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance including access to safe water adequate sanitation and hygiene systems health care services in rural areas protection as well as timely food assistance and nutritional support. With GAC’s support Médecins du Monde is increasing access to basic health care psychosocial support safe drinking water and treatment against malnutrition for up to 8 000 crisis-affected people in six targeted municipalities in the department of Meta. Project activities include: (1) providing 33 mobile health clinics to offer primary healthcare services including psychosocial support in isolated communities; (2) provision of nutritional supplements to up to 2 000 children and 250 pregnant and lactating women; (3) providing up to 400 water filters and 300 nets to communities most affected by water-borne diseases; and (4) improving access to medical and legal services to up to 3 000 victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

The expected immediate outcomes for this project include: (1) improved access to health care nutrition services and psychosocial support; (2) improved access to safe drinking water and reduced incidence of water-borne diseases; and (3) improved access to medical and legal services for victims of sexual and gender-based violence. The expected intermediate outcome is the reduced vulnerability of crisis-affected people especially women and children.