page_title: Partners In Health
section_title: Chiapas, Mexico
hierarchical_section_title: Partners In Health / Other locations / Chiapas, Mexico
caption_attribution_description: English: PIH's project in Mexico gave cameras to illiterate women, allowing them to document their lives.
context_page_description: Partners In Health is a Boston-based nonprofit health care organization founded in 1987 by Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, Thomas J. White, Todd McCormack, and Jim Yong Kim.
  The organization's goals are "to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair." It provides healthcare in the poorest areas of developing countries. It builds hospitals and other medical facilities, hires and trains local staff, and delivers a range of healthcare, from in-home consultations to cancer treatments. It also removes barriers to maintaining good health, such as dirty water or a lack of food, and strengthens the rights of the poor. The approach trades charity for “accompaniment, ” which is described as a “dogged commitment to doing whatever it takes to give the poor a fair shake.” While many of its principles are rooted in Liberation theology, the organization is secular. It forms long-term partnerships with, and works on behalf of, local ministries of health. PIH currently holds a 4 out of 4 stars rating from Charity Navigator, a nonprofits evaluator.
context_section_description: The residents of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, including millions of indigenous Maya, have long struggled with poverty, political violence, and dismal health conditions. Chiapas has extremely high rates of maternal mortality, infant mortality, and tuberculosis compared to other states in Mexico. Partners In Health, known locally as Compañeros En Salud, began working in Mexico in 2011. CES aims to provide a more reliable, community-based alternative by training and employing local community health promoters, called promotores.
  El Equipo de Apoyo en Salud y Educación Comunitaria (EAPSEC, The Team for the Support of Community Health and Education) was established in 1985 by a small group of Mexican health promoters. They initially worked with Guatemalan refugee communities in the Chiapas border region, and later expanded their work to other marginalized people in Chiapas. EAPSEC believes that "a life of dignity" is a human right. This includes a strong public health system that responds to the most pressing health needs of the population, and access to high quality health care.
  Since 1989, PIH has collaborated with EAPSEC to improve medical infrastructure in the region and to recruit and train hundreds of promotores. Over the past two decades, EAPSEC has partnered with dozens of indigenous and rural communities throughout Chiapas to develop local health capacity. Recent work has focused on a network of communities in the area of Huitiupan in the highlands and around Amatan. EAPSEC is dedicated to helping communities build self-sufficiency and counts many successful community health groups throughout Chiapas among its "alumni.”
caption: See more images here: http://www.pih.org/news/entry/women-in-chiapas-mexico-document-their-lives-advocate-their-concerns/
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK DX4530 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "230", "Image YResolution": "230", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "170", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/90", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2003:12:15 14:05:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2003:12:15 14:05:17", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "13/2", "EXIF ApertureValue": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "8", "EXIF Tag 0x9215": "120", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2580", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1720", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "120", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Night", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}