How the pandemic is affecting Ecuador and Uruguay
People in other parts of the world are often struggling under much harsher conditions than those in Central New York as they deal with the coronavirus pandemic. A group based in Ecuador is leading an emergency response to provide food and basic hygiene supplies to highly vulnerable families. Two scientists involved with Walking Palms, a non-governmental organization through which many Upstate students and faculty have learned about global health, describe conditions they have seen in South America. They include Upstate assistant professor Anna Stewart-Ibarra, PhD, speaking from Uruguay, where she is the scientific director for the Inter American Institute for Global Change Research, and Avriel Diaz, speaking from Ecuador. Diaz, the executive director and co-founder of Walking Palms, is a systems ecologist who earned a bachelor's degree from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse and a master’s degree from Columbia University.
