"As we stepped off the plane, we were reminded that the world was not always as it is today. It became what it is. It is not only important but necessary to reflect on the life that once was and the demented transition into today’s social ambience. As Chiapas moves into the 21st century, its 
struggles today resemble those of the conquest era — structural violence, economic exploitation, marginalization and racism. The Highlands of Chiapas remain vastly underdeveloped with an ethnic makeup of more than 85 percent indigenous people and more than half being monolingual non-Spanish speaking. Since the greatest indicators of public health are often rooted in the what, why and how of social change, our arrival in Chiapa de Corzo was the perfect preface to our seven-week stay. " -John Rose Jr., UC Irvine Student, Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC)
The members of PRIME-LC have brought WEHHS to the Chiapas region, after establishing strong ties with the organization EAPSEC (Equipo de Apoyo en Salud y Educacion Comunitaria, (Team for the Support of Community Health and Education)) and its network of “community health promoters” across the Chiapas region. As the PRIME-LC students implement a new program to sustain their community health assistance in Chiapas by integrating it into their UCI Medical curriculum, WEHHS is working to compliment their efforts by gathering equipment and medications for EAPSEC’s affiliated clinics. There is a vital need for these items in Chiapas right now, as their clinics are still suffering the effects of the devastating 2005 Hurricane Stan.
EAPSEC is a non-governmental organization that works on the cutting edge of public health and community empowerment in low-resource areas. Their current directors are formally trained in the areas of allopathic and homeopathic medicine, dentistry, herbal medicine, acupuncture and health promotion. EAPSEC’s public health campaigns are especially attentive to social equality, human rights and political activism. EAPSEC takes great pride in working with communities that have been abandoned by Mexico’s public health system.
The birth of the organization was in the 1980’s, when the Guatemalan civil war expelled more than 50,000 refugees into Chiapas’ bordering jungles. In the midst of this public health nightmare, EAPSEC emerged as an organization dedicated to serving those whom society’s piety fails to recognize. Since then, EAPSEC has developed 18 manuals for community health specific to the needs of Chiapas. Currently 137 health promoters work in 11 municipalities and 83 communities across four regions of Chiapas, serving a catchment area of approximately 16,900 people. (Partners in Health website, http://www.pih.org/where/Mexico/Mexico.html) They have collaborated for more than a decade with Dr. Paul Farmer’s Partners in Health in Haiti and in Boston.
If you are interested in donating to the Chiapas project, please click on the "ChipIn" button to the right. Thank you!
*thank you to John Rose Jr. and Jamie McGuire for their contributions to this page. To read more from their experiences in Chiapas, click here.
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