Guatemala contributes its experience to the In-Person Continental Meeting of the Celam Health Pastoral Team, which in Bogotá is advancing in the definition of a common plan for 2026-2029, with the purpose of defining common priorities and actions.
Brother Aníbal Giovanni Ruiz, executive secretary of the National Health Section of Guatemala, participates in this meeting, which will last until October 2.The religious emphasizes that presence allows us to recover an essential human dimension for the work of Health Pastoral Care.
“I rescue the work of virtual meetings, but I think that face-to-face contact is essential, because that makes us human, and we are talking about humanizing health,” he says.Knowing the experiences of each country allows us to recognize common challenges.
Guatemala: a pastoral that seeks new alternatives
In dialogue with ADN Celam, Ruiz referred to the state of health pastoral care in Guatemala, He assured that, although the national health project of the Episcopal Conference has already concluded, different dioceses maintain active community support through nutrition programs, natural medicine, health animators and first aid kits.
Added to these difficulties is the precarious situation of the Guatemalan health system, where, according to Ruiz, the distribution of resources does not always guarantee the required care.»The largest percentage remains in salaries and not in services; in maternity there is none, in performing an operation there is none,» he maintains.
Given the lack of resources, the religious is committed to strengthening the response capacity of the communities themselves. His proposal involves generating resources within the country, recovering nearby care spaces and training agents who can respond to basic health needs.“One of the challenges is how to get funds from within, not look from outside,” he explains.
Humanize care and broaden the pastoral perspective
In the construction of the new continental guide that is being worked on at this meeting, Ruiz considers it necessary to broaden the view on health and incorporate the psychological dimension. His proposal responds to situations that, as he explains, have become more visible among young people and adults after the pandemic.
“I think it is important to add it here in this guide, so that this is like a transversal axis in some dioceses and episcopal conferences,” he points out.He alsoconsiders it necessary to include older adults.“They are brothers, they are parents, they are family members and we are the ones who can help them in that sense,” he says.
The Guatemalan experience adds to a process of collective construction in which, according to Ruiz, the different realities end up finding points of convergence.“We all deal with these issues. They are realities, perhaps dispersed, but there is always something in common: humanizing all health services,” he says.
A guide with specific priorities for the continent
The construction of the new guide also poses the challenge of defining clear priorities. Ruiz warns that the breadth of the realities addressed requires concentrating efforts on a few axes that can be sustained over time.»There is a lot that we want to cover, but we want to focus on several axes. These axes cannot be 60, they have to be 10 or 8,» he explains.
Finally, he assures that the construction of the continental plan also seeks to strengthen the articulation between the different experiences of Pastoral de la Salud. Ruiz considers that this exchange allows us to recognize a shared task beyond the particularities of each country: “Learn that we are not alone; we all work on evangelization through health throughout the world.”
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