Una vivienda para cuidar la salud de personas sin hogar

El programa Nosotros de la Universidad de Arizona ofrece exámenes hepáticos gratuitos con tecnología FibroScan a la comunidad latina del sur de Arizona. Desde 2021 ha realizado más de 1,600 pruebas anuales, logrando que más del 90% de los participantes reporten mayor motivación para adoptar hábitos más saludables.

Hasta la crisis migratoria ‘de los cayucos’ no existían mediadores interculturales en salud en España. En este marco surge el Servicio de Interpretación y Mediación Intercultural sociosanitaria de Salud Entre Culturas, uno de los pocos presenciales, integrado en un hospital. Su objetivo, junto con los teléfonos de interpretación idiomática, es echar abajo las barreras lingüísticas y socioculturales en la sanidad española.

El programa CUP de la Universidad de Arizona gestiona una red de 12 clínicas gratuitas dirigidas por estudiantes de medicina que, en 2024, atendió a 525 pacientes sin hogar o sin seguro médico en Tucson.

The University of Arizona's Commitment to Underserved People (CUP) program operates 12 student-run free clinics that provide comprehensive medical, mental health, and social support services to Tucson's unhoused and uninsured residents. In 2024 they served 525 patients while simultaneously training the next generation of community-minded physicians.

The University of Arizona's student-run CUP women's clinic provides free preventive and primary care to uninsured Southern Arizona women. In 2025, they served 61 unique patients, a 35% increase from the prior year, and trained future physicians in community-based medicine and health equity.

Ubuntu-Afya Kiosks are a network of 25 community health centers in rural Kenya developed by Afya Research Africa. By combining community savings groups and public-private partnerships, these 24-hour primary healthcare centers have served over 300,000 individuals and continue to connect with underserved populations.

Through the Midwest Street Medicine program, medical volunteers provide no-cost care to people experiencing homelessness, from simple procedures to help obtaining medicines. As of August, volunteers had helped more than 350 patients and made more than 1,000 medical interventions.

There are 10 safe injection sites in Toronto, Canada. At each location, nurses are present to assist in intravenous drug use to prevent disease transmission and overdoses. Visitors can access mental health services, health care, and medication-assisted addiction treatment if they choose to.

Inside Safe addresses the significant homelessness crisis in the city by traveling to encampments and offering people hotel rooms to stay in where they are connected with permanent housing and other necessary resources, like mental health care. Hotel rooms provide people with a safe space to heal and rest while working with a case worker to find housing. The initiative has so far moved 1,373 people into hotel rooms and 77 of them have moved into permanent housing.

Street medicine teams bring medical care direct to people experiencing homelessness in encampments across the state. There are currently 25 teams operating in the state, providing medical care, food, hygiene products, empathy and support to those in need. Street medicine teams provide both emergency and routine primary care, establishing relationships and building trust with the patients they serve.