Church Continues to Provide Humanitarian Aid to Paraguayans Impacted by COVID-19

As Paraguayan government authorities and health centers work to provide relief to people impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to help the community with donations of medical supplies and shipping containers to support health care workers around the country.

To date, the Church has carried out 20 humanitarian aid projects in Paraguay to provide coronavirus relief that amounts to more than $400,000 USD in aid to support the South American country’s public health sector.

When asked why the Church is engaging in this type of aid, Elder Robert G. Rivarola of the Seventy expressed that Latter-day Saints “are taught to emulate [Jesus Christ’s] example by blessing the lives of our neighbor — the children of God — our brothers and sisters.”

Elder Rivarola, in addition to being a senior Church leader in Paraguay, is a doctor by profession.

Projects that are currently underway to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Paraguay include vaccination support in the municipality of Cerro Ñemby and humanitarian aid to various health entities including the Archbishopric of Asunción’s Pharmacy, the Ypané Health Center, the District Hospital of Piribebuy, Villa Elisa Hospital and Salto del Guairá Hospital.

On Saturday, Elder Rivarola and local Church leader President Marcos Sosa presented a donation to help constituents in need to Ñemby City Mayor Prof. Bonifacia Salinas de Martínez on behalf of the Church.

The city leader received a tent and 40-foot shipping container that will be used as a vaccination center to facilitate hundreds of COVID-19 vaccinations to local residents.

During the delivery, President Sosa expressed his gratitude to Church members who made monetary donations to the Church through fast offerings or other means to bless “many more children of our Heavenly Father” with humanitarian aid.

Archbishopric of Asunción’s Social Pharmacy

The Church also provided relief to the Archbishop of Asunción’s Social Pharmacy by working hand in hand with the Pastoral Social Arquidiocesana de Asunción (Pastoral Ministry Archdiocese of Asunción) by helping set up a government-funded pharmacy to care for COVID-19 patients.

To urgently contribute to this project, the Church donated a shipping container equipped with the necessary infrastructure to be used as a dispensary for pharmaceutical products.

“This is charity’s foundation. It is a gesture of unity and of ‘Fratelli Tutti’ as the Pope says, of brothers and sisters, all brothers and sisters, aligned to provide adequate solutions in this time of pandemic, to the outcry, to the tears, to the grief of many people,” said Monsignor Edmundo Valenzuela, the Archbishop of Asunción.

In addition to expressing thanks, Monsignor Valenzuela also highlighted the gesture of solidarity that the project came to symbolize as Christian denominations, including the Church, and nonprofit organizations collaborated to make it a reality.

The Social Pharmacy or “People’s Pharmacy” was installed on the premises of the Seminario Metropolitano de Asunción (Metropolitan Seminary of Asunción) that began operating in late June 2021. The pharmacy provides medical assistance to COVID-19 patients who lack health insurance.

Ypané Health Center

The Church also donated two fully equipped metal shipping containers turned mobile clinics to the Ypané Health Center, a town located more than 18 miles south of Asunción.

Additional donations included stretchers, desks for health care workers, air conditioning units and suction pumps.

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“I would like to thank the Church for the shipping container donation. For the Ypané community, these are very useful today since the pediatric area works in one and the COVID-19 team works in another,” said Dr. Leticia Meza, who works at the health center. “Ypané is an area that is growing … Thanks to the Church’s contribution, many families will be able to access this benefit.”

Additional donations to strengthen the location’s ability to quickly treat COVID-19 patients with respiratory symptoms without having to travel long distances included oxygen therapy devices and tubes. Other donated medical supplies will be used in the health center’s laboratory.

Dr. María Victoria Duarte, director of the Piribebuy Hospital, thanked local Church leader Carlos Raúl Meza, on behalf of the medical staff for the donation their location received.

General Hospital of Villa Elisa and Hospital of Salto de Guairá

"We greatly appreciate the support of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for that commitment and social responsibility it has," said Dr. Roque Silva, director of the Eleventh Health Region of Paraguay, referring to the various donations that the Church has contributed during the pandemic.

At Hospital Villa Elisa, the donated medical equipment included devices that will aid COVID-19 patients’ oxygen flow, nasal canals and lungs. The Salto del Guairá hospital received 10 hospital beds, five infusion pumps and two neonatal monitors.