Our Street Doctors in La Paz are in action every month with three outpatient clinics in the Bolivian capital to offer medical care to the poorest and most needy. First and foremost, these are the many homeless children who struggle to survive on the streets of the metropolis. But there are also children who have been accommodated with their mothers in the women's prison(we reported), as well as poor families in the slums outside the big city. In addition, the Street Doctors visit schools in order to provide not only acute care but also preventive medical check-ups and education in the area of (dental) hygiene. After not being able to visit our colleagues on site recently due to the global pandemic, a team from Germany was able to travel to Bolivia again last fall for the first time to get an idea of the situation on the ground(article Nov. 22). The visit was impressive: despite the difficult situation in recent times, the Bolivian doctors and nurses were able to maintain their work at a very good level. This is also reflected in the patient numbers of the past year:

Patient numbers for 2022

A total of 15619 people received medical treatment from the team in La Paz in 2022.

Compared to the previous year (2021), over 700 more patients received treatment. It should be emphasized that this increase is particularly evident in the 0 - 5 and 6 - 18 age groups. The significantly higher number of check-ups for schoolchildren is particularly pleasing: more preventive check-ups have a lasting positive impact on children's health and are therefore particularly necessary and important.

Another doctor is currently working at Artemed Stiftung in La Paz and is supporting the team on site. She has already sent us a few impressions that we would like to share with you: