When the doctor doesn't arrive: the realities of care in remote areas of Colombia
In August 2024, a pregnant woman and her baby died in El Litoral del San Juan, Chocó, without receiving medical attention. She went into labor at home, in the midst of an armed strike by the ELN that paralyzed river transport in the region. There was no fuel, no way to transport her, no options. She died waiting for care that never arrived. That same day, in another municipality in Chocó, a 16-month-old girl also lost her life from preventable causes and for the same reason: access to healthcare was not possible. How is it possible that in Colombia, a country that boasts universal healthcare coverage, there are still people who die simply because they cannot reach a hospital? This is the reality we have in Colombia. According to the National Statistics Institute (DANE), by 2018, nearly three million Colombians did not have access to health services. This reality, which hits rural, Indigenous, and Afro-descendant communities hard, is a reflection of a profound crisis: the lack of a...