From Regional Patient Advocate Fernanda de Oliveira Martins
COVID-19 has hit Latin America very hard. Unfortunately, many lives have been lost, including that of family members of people linked to HAE patient associations.
In Mexico, more than 187,000 people lost their lives to COVID-19. In Brazil, the number is more than 120,000. In Peru, there have been more than 28,000 deaths. In Colombia, more than 19,000, in Chile more than 11,000, in Argentina there over 8,000, and in Ecuador more than 6,000 losses. This is very sad.
Several associations in my region focused on supporting patients in these uncertain times. The many uncertainties about the virus, the crowding of health services and the lack of reliable information offered by some of the governments, generated panic among the population. Fear of exposure to the virus has caused some HAE patients to avoid medical consultations and to avoid seeking help during crises. After all, what would be more dangerous, an HAE crisis or the possibility of infection with the coronavirus?
Fortunately, COVID-19 does not appear to aggravate HAE conditions, and this has actually been the subject of some webinars promoted by the member organizations.
At this moment that we live in, in which many countries are still with strong guidelines of social distancing, social media are even more important to maintain communication. That is why in the last two months we have worked on updating the website of HAE Ecuador and on creating a page for HAE Colombia. Also, we are in the process to have countries like Brazil, Peru, and Colombia fully operating on HAEi Connect.
Besides, the HAE South America and Mexico Instagram channel has been used to share information about HAE, member organization activities and news from HAE International.
