A First Glimpse at Public Health in El Salvador

Just six days ago, we arrived in El Salvador, and already I feel as though my eyes have been opened to a new world. As our group reflected on our experiences thus far in El Salvador, we shared some of the most notable differences between the experience of walking down the street in San Salvador and Denver. Imagine for a moment that you´ve stepped outside of our hotel, Villa Serena: within a few blocks, perhaps you´d notice the dozen waiting taxis, lined up to ferry customers throughout the city; or maybe you´d note the appetizing smell of the pupusas women are selling on the street corners. By the first major intersection, you´ll probably have noticed the armed guards flanking commercial establishments or laughed with the street clowns juggling pins between the lanes of traffic, where dozens of cars are waiting to merge onto the huge round-about. Coming from Denver, each one of these sights is surprising! One difference, though, that may not be visible at first glance is the health of the people living in El Salvador and the discrepancies in patient accessibility to the healthcare system.

On Monday afternoon, we visited Circulo Solidario´s space in the community of San Roque, where they have built beautiful gathering places for youth, athletic fields, staff offices, and health clinics. The nurse on staff commented that she most frequently encounters respiratory infections and intestinal parasitic illnesses among her young patients. The data from the Pan American Health Organization public health analysis of El Salvador several years ago suggested that this nurse´s experiences are indicative of the country as a whole. In 1996, for example, the primary causes of mortality in children 5-9 years old are pneumonias and intestinal infections; unfortunately, this trend has been consistent in recent years as well.

Both of these health problems have clear connections to environmental factors. For example, the intense pollution in San Salvador undoubtedly plays into respiratory illnesses; similarly, the inaccessibility of nearly half of the population to a clean, public water supply inevitably sets the stage for waterborne communicable diseases. There are, of course, many more contributing factors. During the coming weeks, I look forward to learning more about the health issues facing many Salvadorans and the environmental and social factors that contribute to each.