“Currently the health system became a practice of war medicine”, The quote may sound as a statement of a doctor in the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in a particularly devastated city. But not quite, this was actually stated by a doctor in Venezuela, a few months before the outbreak in Wu Han, China.
The humanitarian health crisis in Venezuela is not new and has been a widespread media topic for quite some time. But what is really going on in the country? Accounts of this drama are based on limited reports mainly from people leaving the country and international players potentially holding their political agenda.
On the other side, objective accounts are also challenged by the difficulties in getting honest responses in a context of citizens fearful of sharing their opinions to an interviewer by using any traditional fielding approach.
To overcome these limitations, three independent research agencies, Fine Research, Reckner Healthcare and Toluna, joined efforts, putting together their HCPs (Fine/Reckner) and general population (Toluna) panels in a pro bono initiative endorsed by the ESOMAR Foundation. The initiative aimed to provide Save The Children with unbiased information that will help them improve the delivery of their projects at the country’s borders.
In the words of Marco Gastaut, from Toluna: “This project made me reflect on how freedom of speech could be facilitated by online interviews. Using other research methods like F2F would be extremely challenging because respondents will not be at ease to respond to questions about health conditions or quality of the service provided by the national health system.”
Wale Omiyale from Confirmit -who contributed with the surveying platform- also added “This pro bono project shows how technologies originally created for Market research, can be used to generate independent evidence despite serious political challenges. In this case it provides an account of the health situation in Venezuela and at the same time, supports humanitarian causes.”
From nutrition to epidemic risks
To provide an adequate context for the research, we interviewed regular citizens and health professionals not only in Venezuela but also in other regional markets (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and -only physicians- in the US).[1]
We found that many countries in the region seem to have seemingly opposite nutritional problems. On one hand, doctors report relatively high levels of obesity and diabetes, on the other, this does not prevent the presence of malnutrition and anaemia.
In Venezuela, obesity values were lower than in the rest of the countries, however, this country worryingly doubled the regional values for malnutrition and prevalence of anaemia.
As a confirmation of the professional view, ordinary Venezuelan citizens identified a higher level of perceived malnutrition in themselves or any family relative (27% compared to a 5-12% range in the other LatAm countries).
Venezuelan doctors also identify critical problems in terms of limited access to basic tests, lack of approvals of new treatments and high cost of medicines. However, their main challenge is the lack of materials and drugs in the workplace, which triples the regional average.
Finally, an epidemic risk in the current context should be considered. This pre-pandemic survey already provided serious warnings about the unpreparedness of the Americas to face an epidemic, something that later events have unfortunately confirmed.
The negative values were more extreme in Venezuela where almost half of the doctors (and half of the citizens) stated that the country had no preparation at all. Tripling the regional average, the main problems were the organization of the health system, the lack of policies for attention to the most vulnerable, lack of protocols, alert systems and training, as well as access to international humanitarian solidarity networks.
The levels of the endemic epidemic diseases reported in the country are generally the highest in the region jointly with Brazil. Specifically, both countries shared a significant presence of dengue. Though malaria has naturally a lower prevalence, it is in Venezuela where most cases of malaria were reported.
Conclusions and learnings
Results provide strong confirmations that in the opinion of health professionals and the general population, Venezuela’s health system faces critical shortcomings with significantly more negative metrics than the rest of the region in terms of:
– Limits on access to medicines and essential materials in care facilities
– Problems of Malnutrition and Anemia associated with poor living conditions of the population
– Vulnerabilities in terms of possible epidemic risks due to the poor organization of the healthcare system, the lack of proper policies, protocols and alert systems
This research confirms the dramatic situation of the Venezuelan population, in the context of the region, providing a strong support to the relevance of Save The Children Mission call.
As David Reckner, President of Reckner Healthcare put it, “the results demonstrate the power of primary research as a tool for understanding the world, physicians as a most valuable resource to understand the broader well-being of a region, and tragically the absolute need for organizations like Save The Children.”
It was also an excellent opportunity for researchers to get to partner with the non-profit sector. Razvan Bondalici, Programme Manager of the ESOMAR Foundation and an enthusiastic supporter of this initiative said “It was hard to imagine that this initiative would be even more relevant now than when it started in September 2019. Access to health services remain critical in Venezuela, a situation that is regrettably spreading to neighbouring countries with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. During these turbulent times it is more essential than ever to turn our attention to those that need it the most.”
The following video summarizes the key insights and shows the wonderful work done by Save The Children for these kids and their families in critical conditions.
To close, Ana Maria Mendez, Colombian National Fundraising and Marketing Director shared: “In Colombia, we have a huge gap in the provision of basic services, and added to that, Venezuelan migrants, refugees and host communities are now facing a triple impact: migration, COVID-19, and displacement due to armed conflict. The need for support for children has never been greater and we cannot fail. Children can face immediate and life-long consequences to their health, development, and future. We cannot allow these lives to become the hidden cost of the pandemic. The Coronavirus is changing the world, but not our commitment, and we are going to continue doing whatever it takes to save children’s lives.”
Get involved and join the cause in www.savethechildren.org.co or email to Anamaria.mendez@savethechildren.org
If you are interested in more content on the Latin Amercian region, please make sure to join ESOMAR Latin America Insights Festival broadcast on the 19 – 21 October 2020. (ed.)
[1] Final sample was made of 1130 regular citizens aged 18+ from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Venezuela (including 311 residents from Venezuela) and 1320 doctors including Primary Care and Specialists from the US and same LatAm countries (of which 120 were Venezuelans).
