In the border areas of Norte de Santander, Arauca, and La Guajira, our teams continued providing general and mental health care to Venezuelan migrants. Our activities in La Guajira ended in August, and those in Arauca were handed over to Première Urgence Internationale as part of the MSF strategy to assist other organizations to establish their presence in conflict areas of the country.
We also closed our mental health program in Buenaventura, Valle de Cauca, where since 2015 teams had been offering psychological support to victims of violence. The project’s innovative call center and psychosocial activities were successfully handed over to the local health authorities.
In June, as part of our COVID-19 response, a mobile team was formed to support small hospitals in Atlántico, a coastal department that was the epicenter of the outbreak at the time. Support included training in infection prevention and control and mental health care for staff.
Towards the end of the year, we carried out an emergency response to a category 5 hurricane that flattened Providencia, a small Caribbean island hundreds of kilometers off the coast.
Despite huge logistical challenges, we quickly sent a team to deliver medical and mental health support to the traumatized community.
