CREATION OF THE JUANFE FOUNDATION

In 2000, in Cartagena, declared a Historical and Cultural Patrimony of the World and the main tourist destination of Colombia, 68% of the population lived below the poverty line and the infant mortality rate was the highest in the country and the third in Latin America: 50.9 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, while it was 25 per 1,000 live births in Colombia and Latin America.

Motivated by two experiences, Catalina Escobar created the Juan Felipe Gómez Escobar Foundation, nowadays known as Juanfe Foundation: the death in her arms of a two-week-old baby, at the Rafael Calvo Maternity Clinic, because his mother, aged 14 years, could not raise 60,000 Colombian pesos (30 dollars at that time) for the treatment he needed; and the death of his own son, Juan Felipe, who was a year and a half old, when he fell from the balcony of their apartment, on an eighth floor, in an accident.

For those reasons, she decided to establish a social enterprise that, in memory of her son, empowered teenage mothers and saved the lives of children who were destined to die due to lack of resources. She traveled to Anaheim, in the State of California, in the United States, to understand how it had managed to be the city with the lowest prevalence of infant mortality in the hemisphere, to replicate it in Cartagena.

START OF OPERATIONS OF THE ADOLESCENT MOTHERS PROGRAM

In 2001, we started the Adolescent Mothers Program, providing girls and young women, most of them victims of all types of abuse and violence, with psychosocial counselling, medical care, and job training.

START OF OPERATIONS IN THE RAFAEL CALVO MATERNITY CLINIC

In 2002, we inaugurated our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Rafael Calvo Maternity Clinic, which attended approximately 60% of the city’s births, with highly trained medical staff, high-tech equipment, and appropriate medical protocols.

To advance our goal of reducing the infant mortality rate in Cartagena, we created the Crib Sponsoring Program. We tackled, in a disruptive way, avoidable perinatal, neonatal and infant mortality, through health and nutrition interventions. At the same time, we educated their parents on issues related to care and hygiene, the practice of healthy habits and lifestyles, food safety, and disease prevention.

Between 2002 and 2017, we saved the lives of 4,449 children under one year of age, through the Crib Sponsoring Program.

OPENING OF THE JUAN FELIPE MEDICAL CENTER

In 2005, we opened the Juan Felipe Medical Center, in order to follow up, for five consecutive years, the babies released from our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We also attended children referred by the Napoleon Franco Pareja Children’s Hospital, among other health institutions, and those we identified in their communities when carrying out home visits or health brigades. In addition, we offered first and second level services to our beneficiaries and their children, as well as to the vulnerable population of Cartagena. Specifically, we provided for free the following services: prevention and care for prevalent early childhood diseases, vaccination, pediatrics, gynecology, ultrasound, general medicine, nutrition, physiotherapy, respiratory therapy, nebulization, specialized clinical laboratory, and dentistry.

In its 12 years of operation, we attended 204,063 people, corresponding to 20% of the total population of Cartagena, and saved the lives of 4,449 children under one year of age, through the Crib Sponsoring Program.

DIEGO TORRES CONCERT

In November 2006, Argentinian singer Diego Torres gave a concert in Bogotá for our benefit.

PORTAFOLIO AWARD

In December 2006, we obtained the Portafolio Award in the Community Contribution category.

IMPACT MEASUREMENT: REDUCTION OF THE CHILD MORTALITY RATE

As a direct result of our efforts in the first seven years of operation, the infant mortality rate in Cartagena decreased by 81%: from 48.4 to 9 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, saving the lives of more than 5,000 children who suffered an early death sentence.

DURAN DURAN CONCERT

In November 2008, Duran Duran arrived in Colombia to present their most recent musical work: Red Carpet Massacre. The concert was for our benefit.

OPENING OF OUR SOCIAL CENTRE

At the end of 2011, we inaugurated our headquarters in Cartagena. The Social Centre, which has 13,000 square meters of built area, distributed between classrooms, offices, cafeteria, medical center, and green areas, allowed us to expand our installed capacity, the quality of our services, and our impact in the city.

We were the first construction at the service of the poor, to receive the LEED Silver certification for Operation and Maintenance of the U.S. Green Building Council in Colombia and the largest in Latin America, which made us a reference in the respect for the ecosystem, bioclimatic norms and civic education.

CREATION OF THE INFANT DEVELOPMENT CENTER

In 2011, we created the Infant Development Center at our headquarters in Cartagena, with the following purposes: to guarantee the development of babies between 3 and 24 months of age, children of our beneficiaries, in all areas of growth (perceptive, linguistic, physical, mental, emotional, and social); to educate the young women in their new role as mothers and in humanized, rights-based upbringing, thus strengthening a healthy emotional bond between them; to encourage the practice of breastfeeding; to promote healthy lifestyles that foster health from early childhood; and to facilitate a better academic performance of the adolescents and avoid their dropout.

CONDECORATION NATIONAL ORDER OF MERIT

In 2011, the President of Colombia awarded Catalina with the National Order of Merit in the Silver Cross degree, for her contribution to the progress and well-being of the country.

CREATION OF THE JUANFE FOUNDATION

In 2000, in Cartagena, declared a Historical and Cultural Patrimony of the World and the main tourist destination of Colombia, 68% of the population lived below the poverty line and the infant mortality rate was the highest in the country and the third in Latin America: 50.9 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, while it was 25 per 1,000 live births in Colombia and Latin America.

Motivated by two experiences, Catalina Escobar created the Juan Felipe Gómez Escobar Foundation, nowadays known as Juanfe Foundation: the death in her arms of a two-week-old baby, at the Rafael Calvo Maternity Clinic, because his mother, aged 14 years, could not raise 60,000 Colombian pesos (30 dollars at that time) for the treatment he needed; and the death of his own son, Juan Felipe, who was a year and a half old, when he fell from the balcony of their apartment, on an eighth floor, in an accident.

For those reasons, she decided to establish a social enterprise that, in memory of her son, empowered teenage mothers and saved the lives of children who, due to lack of resources, were destined to die. She traveled to Anaheim, in the State of California, in the United States, to understand how it had managed to be the city with the lowest prevalence of infant mortality in the hemisphere, to replicate it in Cartagena.

START OF OPERATION OF THE ADOLESCENT MOTHERS PROGRAM

In 2001, we started the Adolescent Mothers Program, providing girls and young women, most of them victims of all types of abuse and violence, with psychosocial counselling, medical care, and job training.

START OF OPERATION IN THE RAFAEL CALVO MATERNITY CLINIC

In 2002, we inaugurated our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Rafael Calvo Maternity Clinic, which attended approximately 60% of the city’s births, with highly trained medical staff, high-tech equipment, and appropriate medical protocols.

To advance our goal of reducing the infant mortality rate in Cartagena, we created the Crib Sponsoring Program. We tackled, in a disruptive way, avoidable perinatal, neonatal and infant mortality, through health and nutrition interventions. At the same time, we educated their parents on issues related to care and hygiene, the practice of healthy habits and lifestyles, food safety, and disease prevention.

Between 2002 and 2017, we saved the lives of 4,449 children under one year of age, through the Crib Sponsoring Program.

OPENING OF THE JUAN FELIPE MEDICAL CENTER

In 2005, we opened the Juan Felipe Medical Center, in order to follow up, for five consecutive years, the babies released from our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We also attended children referred by the Napoleon Franco Pareja Children’s Hospital, among other health institutions, and those we identified in their communities when carrying out home visits or in health brigades. In addition, we offered there first and second level services to our beneficiaries and their children, as well as to the vulnerable population of Cartagena. Specifically, we provided, for free, the following services: prevention and care for prevalent early childhood diseases, vaccination, pediatrics, gynecology, ultrasound, general medicine, nutrition, physiotherapy, respiratory therapy, nebulization, specialized clinical laboratory, and dentistry.

In its 12 years of operation, we attended 204,063 people, corresponding to 20% of the total population of Cartagena, and saved the lives of 4,449 children under one year of age, through the Crib Sponsoring Program.

DIEGO TORRES CONCERT

In November 2006, Argentinian singer Diego Torres gave a concert in Bogotá for our benefit.

PORTFOLIO AWARD

In December 2006, we obtained the Portfolio Award in the Community Contribution category.

IMPACT MEASUREMENT: REDUCTION OF THE CHILD MORTALITY RATE

As a direct result of our efforts in the first seven years of operation, the infant mortality rate in Cartagena decreased by 81%: from 48.4 to 9 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, saving the lives of more than 5,000 children who suffered an early death sentence.

DURAN DURAN CONCERT

In November 2008, Duran Duran arrived in Colombia to present their most recent musical work: Red Carpet Massacre. The concert was for our benefit.

OPENING OF OUR SOCIAL CENTRE

At the end of 2011, we inaugurated our headquarters in Cartagena. The Social Centre, which has 13,000 square meters of built area, distributed between classrooms, offices, cafeteria, medical center, and green areas, allowed us to expand our installed capacity, the quality of our services, and our impact in the city.

We were the first construction at the service of the poor, to receive the LEED Silver certification for Operation and Maintenance of the U.S. Green Building Council in Colombia and the largest in Latin America, which made us a reference in the respect for the ecosystem, bioclimatic norms and civic education.

CREATION OF THE INFANT DEVELOPMENT CENTER

In 2011, we created the Infant Development Center at our headquarters in Cartagena, with the following purposes: to guarantee the development of babies between 3 and 24 months of age, children of our beneficiaries, in all areas of growth (perceptive, linguistic, physical, mental, emotional, and social); to educate the young women in their new role as mothers and in humanized, rights-based upbringing, thus strengthening a healthy emotional bond between them; to encourage the practice of breastfeeding; to promote healthy lifestyles that foster health from early childhood; and to facilitate a better academic performance of the adolescents and avoid their dropout.

CONDECORATION NATIONAL ORDER OF MERIT

In 2011, the President of Colombia awarded Catalina with the National Order of Merit in the Silver Cross degree, for her contribution to the progress and well-being of the country.

EN