Bolivia is still the country with the highest incidence of Chagas worldwide. It is endemic in 60 per cent of the country and around 4,440,000 people are at risk of infection.

MSF is preparing to close its project in Monteagudo, Chuquisaca department, where the team had collaborated with the Ministry of Health to implement an integrated strategy for the treatment and prevention of Chagas in public health services.

Throughout the year, teams carried out community training and awareness-raising activities for health workers in urban and rural communities on the integral management of the disease.  The medical workforces of 17 health centres in the area were trained. This intervention enabled 1,094 cases to be detected and, of these, 445 patients concluded the treatment.

This year, MSF launched a mobile app called eMOCHA in three municipalities within Narciso Campero province. This app enables people to report the location of vinchuca or ‘kissing’ bugs, the insects that transmit Chagas disease, by sending an SMS so they can be removed quickly and efficiently.

The operating manual MSF developed is intended as a toolkit to guide the Ministry of Health, municipal authorities and the National Chagas Programme in the fight against the disease and is based on MSF’s experience implementing the comprehensive care model in Monteagudo. The manual can be used as a reference in other endemic regions in the country.