CARE

Surgeon Gabriela Portillo explains what the challenges and motivations of life as a humanitarian worker during an unprecedented pandemic.

Gabriela Portillo is a surgeon and is a postgraduate degree candidate on health management. She is currently working on CARE’s COVID-19 humanitarian response in Honduras with the Prolempa Project, an initiative to increase the economic well-being of women and youth in the country’s rural Lempa region. The region is known as the Dry Corridor and its residents face severe droughts, water shortages and food insecurity due to lack of rain. With the arrival and spread of COVID-19, the team adapted its tactics and goals to the needs created by the pandemic.