Doctors in La Guaira said skin infections, diarrheal disease and demand for diabetes and blood-pressure drugs are rising two weeks after Venezuela’s June 24 twin earthquakes.
Crowded shelters and long-poor water and sanitation are driving the shift from trauma care to longer-term health needs, with about 18,000 people displaced after 190 buildings collapsed and 856 were damaged.
The health response is also strained because 50% of La Guaira’s health professionals were directly affected by the disaster, Pan-American Health Organization representative Armando Denegri said.
The United Nations has appealed for roughly $300 million to help 1.3 million people, while estimating $37 billion in direct damage to housing and infrastructure.
Aid on the ground is being led largely by local NGOs working with global groups and backed heavily by U.S. funding, in a notable shift from years of Venezuelan government repression of such organizations.