Building a Healthier Future

Solidarity Bridge builds a healthier future with the people of Bolivia and Paraguay through domestic and international partnerships. In a spirit of mutuality, we train and equip medical communities, empowering them to provide high-complexity surgery and other health care for patients who lack access to treatment.

Through our partners, we operate four year-round surgical programs in general surgery, gynecologic surgery, heart surgery, and neurosurgery. Medical mission trips support these programs, bringing US doctors and nurses to Bolivia and Paraguay to work with local physicians, surgeons, nurses, and other medical personnel. Additionally, on our annual Multi-Specialty Mission Trip, US missioners work alongside their Bolivian colleagues to provide care to hundreds of patients in need.

Solidarity Bridge, based in Evanston, Illinois, works primarily in Bolivia. The poorest country in South America, Bolivia has an annual per capita income of less than $6,500 USD. While recent national efforts have increased access to primary health care, surgical services remain inaccessible for the vast majority of the population.

With our local partners, Solidarity Bridge works to bring services to underserved areas of the country with a focus on reinforcing local capacity, especially to serve patients in poor and indigenous communities, many of whom live in remote, rural areas.

All of our work is managed in close partnership with our Bolivian counterparts at Puente de Solidaridad, with offices located in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. Patients travel from throughout Bolivia to receive surgical care through our mission trips and year-round surgical programs based at a growing number of partner hospitals. Our efforts in Paraguay have included a pacemaker program, now concluded, as well as new collaborations in neurosurgery.

Sustainable Programs