ISGlobal Participates in Two Triangular Cooperation Projects of the European Programme ADELANTE 2

The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are based on the notions of global partnership, cooperation and collective implementation. Triangular cooperation has emerged as an important means of mobilising and increasing capacities outside of traditional development-cooperation pathways. ADELANTE 2, the European Union’s programme for triangular cooperation between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, aims to work towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by strengthening regional cooperation initiatives.

The ADELANTE Window is one of the components of the Program aimed at Alliances formed by countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe that wish to implement initiatives that respond to the Triangular Cooperation modality to achieve a more inclusive and sustainable development in both regions .The first edition of the programme will fund 15 initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean involving more than 80 entities of all sorts from 18 countries in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. ISGlobal will participate in two of these initiatives: one to improve care for Chagas disease in Paraguay and the other to develop a telemedicine network for social inclusion.

Improving Care for Chagas Disease in Paraguay

After making considerable advances in vector control, Paraguay has set its sights on strengthening the care, diagnosis and treatment of Chagas disease. According to official data, 30% of people living in endemic areas of Paraguay are exposed to Chagas infection and more than 165,000 are currently infected. The aim of the triangular cooperation project between Bolivia (Beneficiary), Paraguay and Spain (First and Second Providers) is to share the knowledge and experiences of Bolivian professionals who have been trained at and worked for the Platform for the Comprehensive Care of Patients With Chagas Disease, while tapping into the experience of their Paraguayan counterparts and the support of ISGlobal.

This partnership between ISGlobal (Spain), Juan Misael Saracho Autonomous University (Bolivia) and the National Chagas Programme of Paraguay will include theoretical and practical training activities (such as a seminar on the application of new guidelines published by Paraguay’s national programme), internships at the Bolivian platform’s centres, and a third round of training on evaluation and planning methodologies in the health field and their adaptation to the pandemic context. The results of this initiative will be presented at the 17^th Workshop on Chagas Disease, which is slated to take place during the first quarter of 2022. The estimated budget for this initiative is €100,000, with ADELANTE providing €75,000 and the partnership pitching in €25,000.

Telemedicine for Social Inclusion in Times of COVID-19

As stay-at-home orders proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine demonstrated its importance as a tool for medical professionals and sparked a revolution in health care delivery. Some Latin American countries have set up telemedicine services that use satellite-based information and communication technologies (ICTs) to deliver precise data on the geographical evolution of the pandemic. However, other countries in the region have been unable to develop such services due to a lack of technological, financial and human resources. Moreover, the lack of regulation around these services presents an additional problem.

The initiative selected by ADELANTE 2—which includes the participation of ISGlobal—will establish a cooperation network spanning Brazil (Beneficiary), Panama (First Provider), Italy and Spain (Second Providers) for the purpose of sharing experiences, training medical and non-medical personnel, and developing a project guide for the creation of telemedicine centres that can be replicated throughout the region. Panama already has telemedicine services but is interested in learning about the European experiences of Italy and Spain in order to expand and improve the services provided to its citizens. Meanwhile, the Brazilian municipality of Bom Jardim, located in the state of Pernambuco, needs support to create a telemedicine system for citizens who are unable to access health services due to disability or because they live far away from the nearest health centre. This four-country triangular cooperation initiative will run from September 2021 to February 2022. It will have an estimated budget of €54,915, with ADELANTE providing €43,340 and the partnership co-funding the remaining €11,575. Click here to watch the launch event for this initiative, which took place on 21^st September.

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