20 November 2011

La Paz, Bolivia: Teresa Calderón is a national UNV Health Specialist. She supports the National Zero Malnutrition Programme through community health actions with a focus on nutrition, providing technical assistance to improve the quality of health care for Bolivian families, especially mothers and children.

One of her field visits was to the remote and isolated community of Ucumaci in a very arid region of the country. She was very impressed by the health centre she visited there, which she described as an oasis in the middle of the desert.

"It doesn’t have a speck of dust or a pack of pills out of place. And a true intercultural health service is provided here – women are allowed to decide in which position they want to give birth and whether they wish to do it in their husbands’ presence or with their clothes on", Teresa explains.

Teresa was able to share this successful example with many Bolivian communities at the National Meeting on Local Health Management she organizes every year. Her experience as a volunteer has convinced her that "willpower can make roses grow in the desert".

Read Teresa’s full story