RESUMEN
INTRODUCTION: Mondana Clinic is a small rural clinic located in the Napo river region of the Amazon basin in Ecuador. Since its opening in 1997 the clinic has grown to be the primary health care facility for approximately 3000 individuals. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed tabulating the ambulatory diagnosis, age, sex, and domicile of patients over a 9 month period in 1999. RESULTS: During the study period there were 765 patient visits that resulted in at least one diagnosis. Of the patient visits, 175 (22.8%) resulted in multiple diagnoses. Women accounted for 58% of the patient visits, which is similar to the 60% of ambulatory patient visits made in the USA by women. The age distribution showed 66% of patients were under 25 years of age. When comparing diagnoses of males with females, several differences were noted. As expected, urinary tract infections were approximately four-fold more common in females than in males. Gastritis and headaches were also more common reasons for patient visits in the female population than in the male. Conversely, lacerations, abrasions, and contusions ranked higher in the male than in the female population for patient visits. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to provide public health information for this region that will prove useful to the health professionals and funding agencies working in the region. Furthermore, it provides a baseline for comparison with other regions in Ecuador and South America in general, as well as comparisons with data-rich countries such as the USA.