[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]For immediate release
30 November 2022

Chicago – MedGlobal has been awarded a $250,000 grant by the Simon Bolivar Foundation to implement a charitable project to provide medical care services to vulnerable Venezuelan and other migrants and host community residents in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The project will kick off in January 2023 and will last for a year, benefitting over 8,500 people.

According to the Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP), over 500,000 Venezuelan migrants and refugees live in Ecuador, including around 138,000 living in Guayas province. Over 269,000 of them do not have access to healthcare services and many others are in need of access to food. MedGlobal, together with our local partner Parametria SA, aims to expand the current migrant service infrastructure through different interventions, including short term medical interventions (STMIs) to provide free consultations, distribution of food baskets, and training sessions to the community, local volunteers, and local medical staff.

The project presents three main goals:
1. Increasing access to primary and specialty care services to Venezuelan and other migrants and refugees as well as other vulnerable groups via a traditional “medical brigade” model.
2. Increasing access to food items to Venezuelan and other migrants and refugees and host communities.
3. Providing new training sessions to local medical staff, community, and local volunteers in topics such as health prevention, nutrition, and coexistence.

“We are proud to be the recipients of the Simon Bolivar Foundation grant. With this, we will be able to expand our care of Venezuelan and other migrants and refugees in Ecuador. The need for ongoing medical services has been great in Guayaquil, and our new clinic will go a long way to meeting those needs”, said Dr John Kahler, MedGlobal CoFounder.

About MedGlobal

MedGlobal is a humanitarian and health non-governmental organization (NGO) working to serve vulnerable communities around the world by providing innovative, free, and sustainable healthcare. Our health services support refugees, displaced persons, and other marginalized communities in conflict-affected and low-resource settings around the world. Know more about our response for Latin America in Colombia/Venezuela and Mexico.

About The Simón Bolívar Foundation

Simón Bolívar Foundation Inc. is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, private foundation of CITGO Petroleum Corporation. The Foundation supports charitable initiatives, leverages existing resources, and provides charitable grants to qualified organizations to meet the immediate and long-term health needs of the most vulnerable individuals, particularly in and from Venezuela, with a special focus
on the health and well-being of children and their mothers.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]