Excerpt and photo from doctorswithoutborders.org
To see a doctor in Baudó requires a certain degree of luck. It helps to get sick during the day, because at night people avoid traveling on the river—the main means of getting around in a region with few roads—on the perceived orders of armed groups (who deny having issued such orders). Such movement restrictions are commonplace. According to figures from the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office, in 2023 there were 124 incidents of ‘forced confinement’—in which people were ordered not to leave their villages—affecting more than 40,000 people across Chocó.
Many residents of Chocó have also been subjected to mass displacement. Local people live under the constant threat of forced disappearances, mines, and unexploded ordnance, while health care providers have been targeted with violence.
The challenges of everyday life in this region have influenced the shape of MSF’s project, which brings health care access to people living in the most remote and under-served communities.