Featured Promoter

Elsa Galeano

Bambana, Bonanza, Nicaragua

Elsa Galeano is a 34-year old mother who lives with her husband and 5 children in Bambana, a rural Nicaraguan village that is home to some 250 people. Bambana is just one of over 50 villages located in the municipality of Bonanza, in Nicaragua's North Atlantic Autonomous Region. Bonanza is rich in natural resources, but its' residents, half of whom are indigenous Mayangna, have long struggled with poverty, political violence, and health problems that rank among the worst in the country and hemisphere. Throughout much of the region, access to basic health care is severely limited, and in the last decade, the national government has devoted less resources each year to the health care sector of this poorest region in all of Nicaragua.

Despite these odds, people like Elsa Galeano work hard every day to improve the health of their families and communities. Elsa is what is known as a "partera," or midwife. In the indigenous Mayangna language, midwives are known as "mujeres grandes," or big women. These women are the backbone of health care in their communities, as they are taught how to care for women and children from an early age, utilizing a number of natural medicines and birthing techniques that have been passed down over the ages. Where there is a pregnant woman you will always find a partera, and Elsa will be the first to tell you that despite working with a severe shortage of resources (scissors, suture materials, pain medication, umbilical cord pincers, just to name a few) they are proud of what they do.

Elsa said that she believes that "the most important challenge in her community is keeping women healthy. We believe that where there are healthy women, there are healthy families; and where there are healthy families, there are healthy communities." Often, parteras like Elsa, have to cross raging rivers (the wet season brings heavy rains throughout Nicaragua and lasts eight months out of the year) in the middle of the night to attend a birth or to a sick infant. Indeed, parteras like Elsa Galeano are the true heroes of Nicaragua's rural communities.

APS is proud to recognize Elsa as one of our newest community health workers. She was democratically elected by the community of Bambana this past May.