El Salvador is located in Central America and is the home to 6.7 million people. Although poverty, malnutrition, substandard housing and lack of access to health care plague those suffering from ear disease, El Salvadors strength to overcome these illnesses is its ENT community. The dedicated physicians who trained in countries such as Mexico and Argentina strive to take care of those who are ill.
Global ENT Outreach, in conjunction with the ENT doctors from the two main hospitals in the capital San Salvador, Hospital Rosales and the Institute Salvadoreno del Seguro Social (ISSS), have partnered to perform ear surgery of the middle ear and train those interested in ear surgery. This program, the first of its type to be organized in Central America, has the potential to train ENT physicians not only from El Salvador, but from other Central American countries as well, making it the center for ear disease for this region of the world.
What makes El Salvador unique for such a joint GEO-El Salvador program is the small geographic size of the country, an excellent transportation system that allows El Salvadorenos access to the referral hospitals in the capital from all points in the country within 3 hours, a motivated community of ENT physicians, availability of surgical equipment, and excellent nursing staff.
There is a high incidence of ear disease in El Salvador, chronic Otitis media, cholesteatomas, perforations, well as otolsclerosis. The high incidence of otosclerosis is attributed to the gene pool being little affected by inter ethnic marrying. Unlike neighboring Honduras where there is a low incidence of otosclerosis and mixed bloodlines.
The active GEO program in El Salvador has provided an opportunity for both medical students and ENT residents form the USA to travel to a foreign country and experience first handed the delivery of health care.