Helping Venezuela Recover: The Role of Global Health During and Beyond the Emergency

After two of the deadliest earthquakes in Venezuela's recent history, physician Juan Carlos Gabaldon explains why international support is vital for recovery.

6 minutes read

On 25 June I woke up to dozens of WhatsApp messages. I thought they were friends wishing me a happy birthday. That was not the case. The messages came from people wondering if my family and loved ones were OK. As I quickly learned, the night before, at 18:04 local time, and 38 seconds apart, two of the most powerful earthquakes recorded in Venezuela’s last hundred years had hit the country.

My family was fine. Mérida, the city where I come from, was spared the damage. Much of the country's northwestern coast was affected, though, with most of the destruction concentrated in the capital, Caracas, and the nearby port city of La Guaira.

At the time of writing, at least 1,450 people have died, including 17 Spanish nationals, while more than 3,000 have been injured. More than 46,000 people remain missing, and the death toll is expected to rise as rescue operations continue. International assistance and donations are proving essential to support the response on the ground.

Tragically Unprepared

After more than two decades of political, social and economic crisis, Venezuela was tragically unprepared to respond to a disaster of this magnitude. The reasons behind this are complex and extend far beyond the scope of this article. Nevertheless, the country's limited preparedness has been laid bare by the slow and insufficient response of the Venezuelan authorities. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes, survivors relied largely on volunteer groups, local fire brigades and neighbours, many of them searching through the rubble with their bare hands and little or no specialist equipment.

Large-scale rescue operations did not begin until international teams arrived around 48 hours after the earthquakes. That support has since been substantial, with more than 2,200 rescuers from 27 countries deployed to the affected areas. Their work is proving indispensable in locating survivors and will almost certainly need to continue over the coming days and weeks if further progress is to be made.

How to Help

Collection centres have been established around the world, including several in Barcelona. However, financial contributions remain the most direct and effective way to help, as shipments of supplies often face logistical bottlenecks and significant distribution challenges.

Campus Clínic Solidari, a joint initiative involving several institutions, including Hospital Clínic Barcelona and ISGlobal, is coordinating one such campaign and is in direct contact with teams deployed in Venezuela to identify priority needs and ensure that resources are allocated effectively. In addition, a list of other verified fundraising campaigns can be found on Caracas Chronicles, an independent media outlet that has specialised in covering Venezuela since 2002.

Support Venezuela. Campus Clínic Solidari campaign

Beyond Emergency Relief

Beyond emergency donations, the international scientific community also has an important role to play in supporting Venezuela's recovery. Even before the earthquakes, the country faced profound challenges in the provision of essential public services, including electricity, access to clean water, healthcare and the control of communicable diseases.

Since at least 2016, the United Nations has classified Venezuela as facing a Complex Humanitarian Emergency (CHE): a protracted crisis that has overwhelmed the state's capacity to perform its core functions. At the same time, years of economic collapse, political repression and persecution have driven a sustained exodus of scientific, technical and healthcare professionals, severely weakening the country's institutional capacity.

These structural challenges will make reconstruction considerably more difficult in the years ahead. They will also test the willingness and capacity of funding agencies, multilateral organisations and the international scientific community to support long-term solutions to the many problems that Venezuela already faced before the disaster, and which the earthquakes have now dramatically intensified.

At a time when global aid budgets face unprecedented financial pressures and uncertainty, Venezuela demonstrates just how much is at stake

Meeting that challenge will require sustained investment in both infrastructure and scientific research within Venezuela. This should include training local medical and scientific professionals, modernising epidemiological surveillance systems, and strengthening primary healthcare networks. Equally important is maintaining support for programmes already operating in the country, including those led by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Médecins Sans Frontières. Continued funding will be essential to preserve recent progress in controlling infectious diseases such as malaria while minimising the disruption that the earthquakes are likely to cause to local NGOs and public institutions.

Ultimately, however, long-term recovery will also depend on the consolidation of transparent, accountable and effective public institutions capable of implementing these reforms. For that reason, supporting the conditions for a peaceful and orderly democratic transition is inseparable from supporting the country's long-term health and development. Global health institutions cannot remain indifferent to this broader context.

A stark reminder

The earthquakes are a stark reminder not only of the devastating consequences of institutional fragility and years of underinvestment, but also of the indispensable value of international solidarity. At a time when global aid budgets face unprecedented financial pressures and uncertainty, Venezuela demonstrates just how much is at stake.

International cooperation is saving lives in Venezuela today. As members of the global health and scientific community, we have a responsibility to help ensure that it continues to do so, both in the immediate response and throughout the long process of recovery that will follow.

Juan Carlos Gabaldon is a Venezuelan medical doctor and parasitologist based in Barcelona. His work mostly focuses on understanding the pathogenesis of Chagas disease. He has previously studied the epidemiology of malaria in southern Venezuela.