Chagas in Bolivia: The Story of Luis and His ‘Double Engine’ That Inspires Hope in the Chaco

With a pacemaker and a brave heart, Luis inspires his Bolivian community to face Chagas and seek treatment before it’s too late.

On a dirt floor, in his perfectly ordered workshop, with machines built by himself, Luis reminds us why we are alive. This young mechanic, father of twin daughters, carries his main tools inside: one is a pacemaker that saved him from the afflictions of Chagas disease and the other is his own luminous heart, capable of inspiring his community and, perhaps, the whole world.

Caused by the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite, Chagas disease can be lethal. In Bolivia, the most endemic country in the world; and in Yacuiba, the Bolivian municipality with the highest risk for the infection; Luis represents the disease's most affected patients. Just before his body broke down, the community helped him to seek help and a foundation allowed the implantation of a pacemaker.

With the support of local authorities and the ISGlobal-Novartis alliance in the Bolivian Chaco, Luis' story is spread in workshops and social networks, encouraging the population to get diagnosed and receive treatment against Chagas disease on time. It is a heavy burden, but the heart of people like Luis, the Double Engine, overcomes fear.

The video was co-created, implemented, and evaluated by the Local Health Authorities of the Territorial Grassroots Organizations of Yacuiba, Villa Montes, and Caraparí, as well as by the Weenhayek Indigenous Community of Breal and the Mennonite Colony of El Palmar (Villa Montes).