Fundación San Genaro: Médicos Rurales Itinerantes

The project Médicos Rurales Itinerantes (Itinerant Rural Doctors) provides medical attention in 20 vulnerable communities in Santiago del Estero, a province in Northern Argentina and one of the poorest in the country. At least once a year, a group of doctors visit these communities, so that the local rural population don’t have the need to travel to urban areas to seek medical advice and get primary care.
The visiting health professionals cover a range of areas, from dental treatment to paediatric check-ups. The teams also distribute water purifying tablets among the local families and work on promoting awareness on safe water consumption, disease prevention, sanitation and other healthy habits.
This project will reach a total of 870 boys and girls aged 0 to 18, as well as over 1,000 adult men and women and some 70 school teachers from 20 different rural communities.
The organization:
Fundación San Genaro works to “improve the quality of life of women and children from vulnerable communities”, focusing on health, education and female empowerment projects. Their team of volunteers work tirelessly to support schools, community centres, youth clubs and soup kitchens through a series of projects - such as Cultivando escuelas, Juntos a la par, Ser solidario and Hacedoras. APARU will be fundraising particularly to support their Médicos Rurales Itinerantes endeavour that is directly linked to the organization’s fieldwork in Santiago del Estero, during the period 2021-2023.

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Fundación Horizonte de Máxima: Módulo Sanitario

In Argentina, 15% of the population lack access to a proper toilet inside their home (INDEC, 2010). This means that residents need to leave their houses to either go to a public toilet, use the facilities at a neighbour’s or a latrine in the open air. The main objective of Módulo Sanitario is to gradually transform the reality of people lacking such basic infrastructure.
During the current stage, the project aims to reach at least 12 vulnerable families to improve their housing conditions and their access to basic hygiene. Installed by a team of volunteers with the involvement of the neighbours and direct beneficiaries, the pre-built and easy-to-assemble sanitary modules comprise cold and hot water piping, drainage and electrical wiring, separate kitchen and toilet sinks, toilet bowl, shower and boiler. After the installation, families are given access -many for the first time- to proper basic sanitation. Volunteers also carry out hygiene workshops and follow-up surveys to assess the long-term impact of the project on the locals’ health and living conditions.
This project has been running since 2015 and has set up over 800 modules in 8 different provinces, improving the lives of over 15,000 people of all ages. In 2021, the project will reach La Matanza – part of the urban conglomerate known as Greater Buenos Aires, this municipality is the most densely populated in the country, with over 50% of its population living below the poverty line.
The organization:
Horizonte de Máxima works in the promotion of social impact ventures, accompanying young professionals who want to get involved in social work to develop their skills with the purpose of becoming “actors of social and inclusive change” in Argentina and Latin America. More than 1,000 volunteers are involved in the organization’s Módulo Sanitario project, for which APARU will be fundraising during the period 2021-2023.