Introduction The island of Ometepe within southern Nicaragua is inhabited by approximately 35,000 people—and it is equipped with one 24-hour hospital. The island’s hospital, the Moyogalpa Health Center, contains 25 beds and is attended by a total of 5 doctors, only one of whom is available for 24-hour in-patient care. Poverty is so extreme on the island that citizens often have trouble affording bus fare to the hospital, where they are offered free medical services through Nicaragua’s Ministry of Health. It is here that a new kind of relief organization, Natural Doctors International (NDI), developed its successful pilot program. NDI established a site in Ometepe in 2005, and for the past few years the organization has encouraged naturopathic physicians (NDs) and other alternative healthcare practitioners and students to volunteer their services for the island’s underserved population.1
Nicaragua
Ometepe
Innovative Nonprofit Enables Natural Medicine Practitioners to Participate in Global Relief Efforts By Courtney Cavaliere The Development of NDI NDI was established with the goal of enabling NDs and other alternative healthcare providers to participate in international relief medicine—much as the program Doctors Without Borders provides for conventional medicine practitioners. NDI has established a permanent presence on Ometepe and is involved in multiple sustainable services and programs for the local community, serving as a model for other volunteer networks interested in global justice and medical assistance. The organization was co-founded in 2003 by Tabatha Parker, ND, Laurent Chaix, ND, and Michael Owen, ND.2 These 3 cofounders established NDI after discovering that there were few opportunities for the naturopathic profession to participate in international relief efforts. The founders were passionately committed to developing and implementing NDI within the legal framework of any foreign country hosting an NDI site. Further, they wanted participants of NDI to live and work closely within the local community, rather than stay in resort areas or fancy hotels Top left photo: NDI global health course participants work to clean corn and beans with Valeriano, a 104-year-old Nicaraguan campesino (farmer). Photo ©2008 Tabatha Parker Bottom left photo: Dr. Tabatha Parker attends a young girl in the NDI clinic in Nicaragua. Photo ©2008 Tony Trujillo
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and have limited outside engagement with citizens, as is the case with some international relief programs. The founders chose Nicaragua as the location for the first NDI site based on their previous travels to the country and the preestablished contacts they had made in the area. Nicaragua was also selected due to its extreme poverty and deficits of healthcare. “Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere,” explained Dr. Parker, who continues to live in Nicaragua and serves as NDI’s executive director (oral communication, May 15, 2008). “There’s a lot of need there.” According to the World Bank, Haiti is the only country in Latin America with an economy worse than Nicaragua’s.3 Although some economic progress has been attained in recent years, including a reduction in the scale and severity of poverty in Nicaragua, it is still estimated that 46% of the population lives below the poverty line. The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that communicable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/ AIDS are prevalent or increasing in some areas of Nicaragua, while noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes result in high morbidity and mortality.4 Nearly 22% of children from the most disadvantaged quartile of urban Nicaragua suffer from malnutrition.
2008
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