MISIÓN SOLIDARIA MANUELA ESPEJO

In 2008 Republic of Ecuador approved the new Constitution which mentions in twenty one articles the benefits for people who suffer any kind of disability physical or psychological and the responsibility of the state to help them. With this new law the Vice Presidency   of the Republic made an agreement with most of the Government Institutions to work together in order to develop Misión Solidaria Manuela Espejo. This program mainly looks for to help disabled people who do not have enough resources to improve their health and lifestyle in our country.

The goal of this program is that groups of four composed by Cuban and Ecuadorian doctors, military and community guides travel around the country in order to make  medical and social analysis and verify documents for later give medical care to people that have been marginalized for years without any help.

This help consist in the delivery of certain things like wheelchairs, sticks, mattresses and visual kits which will contribute to the improvement of health and the lifestyle that those people have been having in most of the cases during their whole life.

Many Government Institutions are supporting this aid. Each of these institutions develop different activities. For example, the Ministry of Health is going to give medical care for every beneficiary of the Misión Manuela Espejo. Moreover the Ministry of Housing is going to build houses in critical conditions. And the Ministry of Education will promote the literacy and training for disabled people.

In conclusion this initiative that was started on July 2009 by the Vice Presidency of the Republic has been very successful. This program has located 294.611 people that suffer some sort of disability, People that have already received medical care and technical support. Now the can live in a better way and enjoy all the benefits that offer the Vice Presidency.

By Edilma Cotapo