Rosa Vega, right, gives a hepatitis shot to Daniel Beltrán, a biology teacher at Fray Agustin Azcunaga on Isabela Island in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
Employees from the Ministry of Public Health on Isabela Island went to local schools to administer the hepatitis shots, given as part of a campaign called Vaccination of the Americas that began in June.
The Ministry of Public Health, located in the city of Puerto Villamil, operates as the only hospital on Isabela Island.
There are three doctors total, two general doctors and a gynecologist, to serve the approximately 2,100 people who live on the island. There is also an orthodontist and a pharmacy located in the hospital.
Though the hospital was renovated in 2008, the electricity is still hooked up to the city’s power without backup generators. Because of this, if the city’s power goes out, the hospital will lose power as well, crippling the health center’s ability to do surgeries and complicated procedures.
If a surgery is necessary, the patient must take a two-hour boat ride to the nearest airport, on another island, and then take a plane to mainland Ecuador. In June 2009, seven women were sent to the mainland during pregnancy because they needed a cesarean section.
The photographer captured this photo while working on a documentary project for the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
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