Por Cristo's mission is to improve the health and well-being of poor children and their families in Ecuador. There are many ways we work toward accomplishing this mission. Most importantly, in 1996, we opened the Por Cristo Nutrition and Health Center in Isla Trinitaria, a poor neighborhood in the city of Guayaquil, to offer year-round, primary health care.

Staffed by local medical professionals, our clinic offers prenatal and pediatric care, as well as primary medicine, gynecology, vaccinations, dentistry, counseling, nutrition and respiratory therapy.  Our community outreach in wellness and disease prevention is an equally important part of our community health program. This includes work with local daycare centers; a dental hygiene program for 2500 children in 11 schools; community health fairs, and home visits to at-risk pregnant women and families.  Our Girls Self-Esteem program encourages young girls to make positive life choices, strengthen their self-confidence and formulate life goals. All of this enables people to become more informed about their health and thus able to make healthy choices for themselves and their families. 

Elsewhere in Ecuador, we have been proud to partner with the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, offering advice and financial support for their Saint Hildegard Clinic in Jaime Roldos, on the outskirts of the capital, Quito. Their St. Boniface School Lunch Program provides over 125 school lunches daily to at-risk school children each year. The St. Jude Soup Kitchen for the Elderly serves over 50 senior citizens each day. Additionally, our Pediatric Cardiac Team has been working side by side with our Ecuadorian counterparts in Quito for many years on annual visits to improve pediatric cardiac care.

Over the past 35 years we have seen real improvements in the quality of life and economic opportunities in the area we serve. We are proud to do our part, working together with our friends and neighbors in Ecuador, to improve their health and well-being.

Since 1979, Por Cristo, a non-profit charitable medical service organization, has been involved in health care work for at-risk women and children in Latin America (primarily serving Ecuador.)

Por Cristo carries out its mission in four distinct ways:

• Por Cristo Nutrition and Health Center
• Medical Expertise/ Technical Assistance
• Collaboration on a Community Health Project
• Provision of Medical Equipment and Supplies