ABOUT ANDEAN HEALTH & DEVELOPMENT

Andean Health & Development (AHD), a U.S. based 501 (c) 3 corporation, was founded in 1995 by Dr. David Gaus and Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, President Emeritus, University of Notre Dame, and Past President of the Rockefeller Foundation, to establish models of self-sustainable, comprehensive healthcare in poor, rural areas of Latin America where there are high risk populations of women and children.

Saludesa is the foundation established in Ecuador by AHD in 1997 to carry out the work of AHD in Ecuador. See more about the History of AHD.

The advisory board of AHD, comprised of members with extensive experience in healthcare policy and administration, tropical public health, and successful private business ventures, provides oversight of Saludesa. Advisory members include Dr. Gaus, Julie Richmond, MD, former Surgeon General and Secretary of Health under President Carter, Michael Heisler, MD from Emory University, and Barnett Cline, Chairman Emeritus, Department of Tropical Medicine, Tulane University.

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The Pilot Project

The pilot project for AHD is located in Pedro Vicente Maldonado, Ecuador, a community of approximately 50,000 extremely poor inhabitants, previously with little access to primary or secondary healthcare including emergency services, childbirth care, hospitalization, surgical services, radiology services, or diagnostic laboratory.

After working out of a provisional makeshift facility for two years, AHD built a full service clinic and 15 bed hospital jointly with the municipal government and the national Ministry of Health (MOH) in this community and opened its doors in 2001. During its first 5 years of operations, the Hospital has treated more than 45,000 patients, including more than 24,000 poor children and pregnant mothers. In addition to other services, close to 1,000 childbirths have been attended – including cesarean. Previously, these patients frequently traveled great distances (3 hours or more) to find healthcare services that are now at their doorstep.

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Self Sustaining Health Care

Through innovative financing mechanisms including prepaid health care packages and a unique, historic contract with the Ecuadorian Social Security System, along with local government support and fee for service, this combined public/private rural hospital is currently recovering over 90% of its operating budget through local funding. It will be at 100% cost recovery and, therefore, completely self-sustainable by 2007, making it the first rural hospital of its kind in Ecuador or anywhere else in rural Latin America that offers quality care on a permanent basis to all segments of the local community through local funding.

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The AHD Impact

According to a 2006 Unicef Study titled, “Global Child Survival and Health,” almost 30,000 children below the age of five die every day from largely preventable causes including pneumonia, diarrhea/dehydration, and measles. In total, about 10.6 million children die every year! Because these children live in the developing world, far from us, we often feel we can do little about this situation.

In many areas, 1 in 20 woman have a lifetime risk of death from a complication of pregnancy such as bleeding, infection, or eclampsia. Countless communities suffer unnecessary death and disease because they have either no access to good healthcare or simply can’t afford it.

AHD is doing something to change these dreadful statistics by developing a healthcare system in rural Ecuador that cares for these kinds of extremely poor communities.

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What makes AHD unique?

AHD emphasizes quality care, dignified services, and self-sustainability. It is AHD’s believe that, as a component of social justice, all people have a right to access a certain standard of healthcare services. The creation of a quality model that is sustained through local funding is a major step towards that goal. By the end of 2007, the pilot project in Pedro Vicente Maldonado (PVM), Ecuador, will be able to maintain itself with little or no outside help. Furthermore, this is more than just a hospital. Relationships have been developed with primary care physicians in the community as well as with tertiary care hospitals in the capital, resulting in a healthcare system. There are currently no other known healthcare models like this in Latin America providing healthcare to the poorest of the poor,

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What’s Next?

Plans are underway to begin new AHD projects in other poor rural areas of Ecuador in 2007 and 2008. This important next step will enable AHD to replicate the success of Pedro Vicente Maldonado and to prove that the AHD model can be achieved in other locations. At its foundation, AHD will continue to provide quality health care built on sound business principles including cost- effectiveness, efficiency, and optimization of human resources, into the health sector which has traditionally been managed by the public sector.

The public management of healthcare services has always emphasized issues such as equity and universal access. AHD believes that the future success of healthcare delivery, especially in rural areas, is rooted in synergy of public/private partnerships.

AHD will need about $400,000 over 3 years to make each rural hospital function successfully. All of these hospitals will be run under the same local, self-sustaining approach.