About Mano a Mano

The mission of Mano a Mano Medical Resources is to create partnerships with impoverished Bolivian communities that improve health and increase economic well-being. Mano a Mano has been guided by the simple yet powerful premise that groups of committed volunteers can reach across national boundaries to make a dramatic difference in the lives of others. Incorporated as a 501 (c)(3) organization in 1994, Mano a Mano Medical Resources (Spanish for “Hand in Hand”) operates in the U.S. through an effective, largely volunteer network with administrative and fundraising costs remaining at less than 2%. Working through this volunteer network in the U.S. and its counterpart organizations, Mano a Mano – Bolivia, Mano a Mano - Nuevo Mundo (New World), and Mano a Mano – Apoyo Aereo (Air Support), its accomplishments include:

• Collecting donations of over 2,000,000 pounds of usable, mostly new, medical surplus from health care providers in the U.S. and transporting them to Bolivia where they equip and supply the community clinics in Mano a Mano’s network as well as assisting 150 other requesting institutions
• Building a health care infrastructure of seventy-six community clinics in previously unserved areas of Bolivia that is constructed, partially financed, and ultimately run by Bolivians. Through this network more than 600,000 Bolivians have access to health care for the first time. All mothers and all but sixteen infants whose births were attended by Mano a Mano medical personnel survived childbirth, a stunning accomplishment in rural areas in which, statistically, one would have expected that, with 5600 deliveries since beginning its clinic program, 33 mothers and up to 560 infants would have lost their lives
• Building public showers, bathrooms, laundry tub facilities, and water access to sites near the public school, then constructing new classrooms and housing for teachers in twenty-two communities
• Attaining an aviation program that has airlifted over 200 critically ill or injured persons to city hospitals, and transported Mano a Mano staff and volunteers to serve remote regions in great need
• Improving nearly 300 kilometers of impassable roads
• Completing nineteen airstrips to connect isolated communities to the outside world
• Building agricultural water reservoirs to help rural communities manage their limited water supply