Crossing borders: Exploration of collaboration with Nicaraguan women

Crossing the Borders of Women's Health: An Exploration of Collaboration with Nicaraguan Women

Emergency is a NGO providing free health care to civilian war victims. Currently operating hospitals and first aid posts in 8 countries, Emergency is exploring partnering with Nicaragua's Ministry of Health to construct a maternal/child health care center in Leon. As part of a community assessment, the presenters (Geraldine Gorman, faculty in the College of Nursing at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Marilou Carrera, an advanced practice graduate student) traveled to Nicaragua in August, 2007. We met with healthcare officials and social service representatives in Leon and Managua. As one of the poorest countries in Central America, women and children of Nicaragua are particularly vulnerable, as evidenced by alarmingly high maternal and infant mortality rates. We toured the only public hospital in Leon, met with faculty in the medical and nursing schools and interviewed local community activists. We also traveled to the island of Ometepe, working with a student brigade sponsored by Naturopathic Doctors International (NDI.) Like Emergency, NDI ‘s mission professes that healthcare, including integrative therapies, is a right of all people, including the poorest in the most remote rural regions. Through slides and field notes we will present the time we spent with those at the forefront of women's healthcare issues in Nicaragua. We will discuss the challenges of an American university attempting to partner with an international NGO to construct a state of the art maternal/infant care center in Central America, an endeavor which requires the crossing of multiple borders: cultural, geographic and political.