Training to heal the territory: 35 young people from Catatumbo will study health careers at UNAL

Beginning in the second half of 2025, 35 young people from Catatumbo will begin their professional training in health programs at the National University of Colombia (UNAL) as part of the "Connecting Health to the Region" project and under the Special Admission Program with a Territorial Focus (PAET).

This strategy seeks to strengthen healthcare talent in territories historically affected by armed conflict, bringing real opportunities to those who have been furthest from accessing higher education.

The new students will be enrolled in programs such as Medicine (10 admitted), Speech Therapy (5), Occupational Therapy (5), Nutrition and Dietetics (5), Dentistry (5), Animal Husbandry (3), and Veterinary Medicine (2). They come from the municipalities of Tibú, El Tarra, Convención, San Calixto, Teorama, Hacarí, Sardinata, and El Carmen, a region characterized by rurality, poverty, and a long history of violence and exclusion.

While Bogotá meets the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of more than 40 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants, Norte de Santander barely reaches 14 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants, and in the Catatumbo subregion the situation is even more critical: high mortality rates, limited coverage, and an alarming health gap.

Faced with this reality, the project led by the UNAL School of Medicine and the National University Hospital (HUN) aims to reverse the unequal distribution of healthcare talent through a comprehensive commitment to training, academic support, financial support, and the expansion of services such as telemedicine.

“Access to healthcare programs in Colombia is hindered by structural barriers,” explains Professor José Fernando Galván Villamarín, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. “Only 28% of universities offering medicine are public, and the rest are private, with costs averaging over 30 million pesos per semester and academic requirements that are often inaccessible to young people from rural areas.”

Furthermore, public schools in Catatumbo face serious limitations in infrastructure, connectivity, and teaching staff, making it difficult to compete on equal terms with students from larger cities. Initiatives like the PAET program for Catatumbo not only open the doors to the university, but also to a more equitable future for the entire country.