Methodist Church in Peru - World Mission Fund Support for pharmacies for Indigenous Communities
Indigenous communities that live near and off the Amazonian Marañon River were deeply affected by COVID-19 in 2020. Members of the community that had migrated to urban centres found themselves returning to their indigenous Awajún communities because of the loss of earnings and employment as Peru entered into lockdown. Unfortunately, they also carried COVID-19 back with them and many people in their home communities were infected, with little access to medical care. In one town of close proximity, Imacita, the only doctor in a rudimentary clinic came down with COVID-19 and was unable to tend to COVID patients at the height of the pandemic in the country. There were also high numbers of COVID related deaths in these indigenous communities. (Peru Methodist Community Support Boat pictured right)
The Methodist Church in Peru had planted a church in a small community, Emat, in 2017. (Pictured below left) Through the members of Emat it was able to offer humanitarian aid and medicine to help alleviate COVID-19 symptoms in several other neighbouring communities, with the help of a solidarity grant from the World Mission Fund in August 2020. In October 2020 the church delivered training to community leaders in setting up, establishing and maintaining community pharmacies, using medical personnel from the church to deliver said training and in collaboration with local health authorities, with a view to the future establishment of several community pharmacies.
The Awajún indigenous communities live in challenging conditions. They are devoid of basic services such as running water and electricity and do not have access to sanitary living conditions. They currently do not have access to medicine that can help them fight prevalent, endemic diseases such as Peruvian wart (Carrion’s disease), malaria and now coronavirus. Supporting these 43 communities in establishing the community pharmacies will help them in their fight against these illnesses. The church is clear that the pharmacies ought to:
- Be accessible to all indigenous communities
- Maintain a good supply of medicine
- Offer quality medicine
- Offer medicine at a low cost
- Offer medicine that can control or fight 90% of these illnesses
- Maintain a permanent and sustainable presence
- Be self-financing and autonomous
- Be managed by trained personnel
The aim is to establish several pharmacies that will be accessible to communities who live up to 6 hours away from the closest port town, Imacita, by boat, car or walking and with distances of up to 2 hours between each community. These pharmacies will prioritise access to pregnant and lactating mothers and to children via vaccination campaigns and child health promotion.
Nine community pharmacies will be established to support 43 indigenous communities (serving an estimated 50,000 persons). The World Mission Fund is part-funding this work with a grant of £11,620.