The Emergency Humanitarian Complex in Venezuela

The aggregate results of our measurements from January 2018 throughJuly 2018 are broken down below:

AGGREGATE RESULTS NATIONWIDE: JULY 2018.

The worst supplied city was Barquisimeto, where the indicator was above 90 per cent, dangerously close to 100 per cent, for the four causes of morbidity surveyed. In other words, nine out of ten pharmacies that we visited in Barquisimeto do NOT have medicines in stock for any of the diseases included in this survey.

Caracas showed a slight improvement as compared against June percentages, at least for drugs to treat hypertension and diabetes. However, for acute respiratory infections and diarrhea, the shortage remains above 90 per cent, as it does in Barquisimeto, Mérida and Nueva Esparta.

The situation in Mérida is hardly different from that encountered nationwide, with a medicine shortage index of over 95 per cent for three of the four causes of morbidity included in the investigation. This clearly depicts the size of the country’s Complex Humanitarian Emergency, especially if one takes into account that establishments in Mérida, being an Andean city, have access to Colombian markets

JULY 2018: CHILDREN’S DAY IN VENEZUELA WAS CELEBRATED AMIDST STRIKES AND PROTESTS IN THE HEALTH SECTOR AND UNDER THE THREAT OF SERRATIA MARCESCENS.

I. The state of Lara is on health alert due to persistingdamage from Serratia Marcescens in the PediatricHospital of Barquisimeto, where the bacteria is sowidespread that by July 12:

1. 33 children had been affected by the bacteria.2. 11 had died killed as a result of infection with the

3. MAPANI (Mothers and Fathers for Venezuela), anNGO, filed a constitutional appeal of amparo withthe Supreme Court of Justice in Lara to defend andprotect the constitutional rights of the victims.

4. The Twentieth and Sixteenth Prosecutors in Larawith jurisdiction over matters concerning childrenand adolescents know of the case and are leadingthe investigations.

5. According to Grethna El Alabi, president ofMAPANI, “Serratia is so aggressive that it can kill a

person in just a matter of 12 hours. We need to get to work on a solution because days pass and bacteria getincreasingly resistant.

Health sector unions in the State of Nueva Espartaprotested the catastrophic health situation and thegovernment’s silence in the face of the crisis.

I. Dr. Germán Rojas, of the Pediatrics Society, insisted that “the situation of patients is more and more dramatic due to the shortage of medicines and the high prices that they need to pay for the few drugs available; on the other hand, the poor salaries of health workers don’teven cover their transportation fares.