In Soyapango, a city neighbouring El Salvador's capital, San Salvador, MSF operates an ambulance service in conjunction with an existing service run by Comandos de Salvamento. In recent years, neighbourhoods and communities within the city - home to around 250,000 people - have become bastions of gangs and violence, and difficult to access by medical services. In El Salvador, they are defined as “red zones”.
In Soyapango, MSF has two ambulances (one medicalised) for the transport of patients which, in emergencies, enable people living in red zones to access health centres and hospitals.
An innovative element of this service is that MSF has introduced women to the combined role of nurses and - more unusually in El Salvador - drivers.
Claudia Ramírez talks about her daily routine and motivations as a nurse and driver.
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MSF ambulances in El Salvador
El Salvador
Breaking the invisible barriers that divide neighbourhoods controlled by gangs
Project Update
11 Feb 2019
El Salvador
Additional ambulances increase access to healthcare
Project Update
16 Nov 2018
El Salvador
MSF facilitates access to healthcare in communities of San Salvador and Soyapango
Project Update
3 Jul 2018