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Ensuring Supplies of HC and FC in Bolivia |
Members of the @MATES4Kids network experienced collaborative success in improving access to HC and FC in Bolivia. Bolivia currently mandates NBS, however, there is no access to HC or FC. Normally it is obtained from Argentina thanks to the commitment of paediatric endocrinologists like Dr. Noemi Oropeza, who bring will bring the medicine from across the border to families who need it. Over the past year, efforts from GPED, overseen by Dr. Jean Pierre Chanoine, helped to relieve Bolivia’s challenges in ensuring access to HC and FC through working with the Canadian NGO Health Partners International (HPI). HPI works with pharmaceutical companies in Canada to send donations of essential medicines to low-income countries. They exclusively work with communities outside of Canada and their model ensures the medicines are always provided free of cost, although the organization typically requires the medicines to be brought in person to the country of interest by a carrier.
Arrangements were made to exchange the medicine at a meeting in Buenos Aires, however, due to political conditions in Bolivia the plan was not able to proceed as expected. Instead, HPI worked with Bolivia to overcome this challenge and made an exception to their usual procedure. They instead allowed GPED to ship the medicines to Bolivia, which were received by Dr. Bany Seaone from Santa Cruz and distributed by paediatric endocrinologists throughout the country. The boxes were well distributed to several different regions, with 21 sent to Santa Cruz, 8 to Cochabamba, 8 to La Paz, 2 to Oruro, and 1 to Chuquisaca.
This great success can be attributed to the dedication of paediatric endocrinologists across the Americas. GPED now works with two colleagues in Bolivia, at least one pharmaceutical company in South America, and hopefully with the families and the health authorities in Bolivia to actively support registration in the country. This will support an uninterrupted supply of HC and FC to ensure that once children are diagnosed they may also be treated.
Arrangements were made to exchange the medicine at a meeting in Buenos Aires, however, due to political conditions in Bolivia the plan was not able to proceed as expected. Instead, HPI worked with Bolivia to overcome this challenge and made an exception to their usual procedure. They instead allowed GPED to ship the medicines to Bolivia, which were received by Dr. Bany Seaone from Santa Cruz and distributed by paediatric endocrinologists throughout the country. The boxes were well distributed to several different regions, with 21 sent to Santa Cruz, 8 to Cochabamba, 8 to La Paz, 2 to Oruro, and 1 to Chuquisaca.
This great success can be attributed to the dedication of paediatric endocrinologists across the Americas. GPED now works with two colleagues in Bolivia, at least one pharmaceutical company in South America, and hopefully with the families and the health authorities in Bolivia to actively support registration in the country. This will support an uninterrupted supply of HC and FC to ensure that once children are diagnosed they may also be treated.