MANDUVIRA used the Fair Trade premium to build a health centre with a dental clinic and laboratory that would be available to the whole community with subsidized rates for co-operative members. The laboratory built with the premium funds is the only one available in the area. Test results are now available here within a day, rather than the three-day wait in the capital city. This means patients are more likely to be able to afford the time and money for a diabetes, cholesterol or HIV test.
When the centre was built, there were no state health services in the town. The journey to the nearest services in the capital was three hours on a bus, down a road which was impassable to navigate after heavy rains. There are now some government services in the town but not enough to meet the needs of the community: the doctor is available two days per week, the dentist has time only to treat children and emergency cases.
