Developing access to rehabilitation in Colombia
HI works in the north of the country, facilitating access to rehabilitation services for Colombians and for Venezuelan migrants. Matilde has received new crutches to make her daily life easier.
Matilde Ludovico in front of her house. | © C. Maldonado / HI
Matilde Judith Ludovico Laya lives in La Guajira, a town in the very north of Colombia. Many people in the region, both Colombian and Venezuelan, don’t have the means to access rehabilitation care. HI's teams work with them to make their daily lives easier and help them become more autonomous.
A change of equipment: adapted crutches
When Matilde was a baby, she was the victim of a terrible accident: the cradle in which she was sleeping caught fire. The doctors couldn’t treat all her burns and had to amputate her right leg. Today, Matilde lives with her mother and one of her sisters.
Matilde loves staying at home, cleaning, painting, decorating and gardening. She also does a lot of sewing and she has just started work on a large doll. She tells us that she's comfortable enough getting around her home, but gets tired if she is on the move for too long.
”Inside the house, I move around on my hand and knees, but when I go outside, I use crutches. A neighbour gave me hers, but they were too big. They hurt me and rubbed under my arms. When I saw the HI teams arrive with my new crutches, I was very happy. I won't be in pain anymore because this pair has underarm pads,’ says Matilde.
With HI’s physical therapists, Matilde has also learnt exercises that she can do at home, such as balance movements. Doing these exercises every day has strengthened the muscles in her leg and she doesn’t tire so easily.
Supporting Venezuelan migrants and host communities in northern Colombia
In northern Colombia, HI works alongside Venezuelan migrants and the region's indigenous communities. To improve their living conditions and health, our teams provide physical and functional rehabilitation services, as well as mental health and psychosocial support.
These activities helped more than 20,600 people in 2024. Nearly 7,000 of them received rehabilitation support (physiotherapy sessions, crutches, prostheses) and some 4,800 received psychosocial support.
