Argentina is a country of extreme contrasts. With abundant natural resources, a strong agricultural sector and a GDP of approximately US$640 billion, it ranks among Latin America’s largest economies. Yet, this image of prosperity contrasts sharply with the reality faced by millions.
31.6% of the population live in poverty, with 8.2% experiencing extreme poverty. These challenges are particularly pronounced in the northern region, where structural inequalities – long-standing, systemic disparities in how wealth, infrastructure, and opportunities are distributed – restrict access to basic services. Here, NGOs play a crucial role in advocating for marginalised communities that are often excluded from the country’s broader economic gains.
Salta, one of Argentina’s poorest provinces, illustrates these disparities. Home to the country’s largest indigenous population, daily life for many residents is shaped by scarcity.
For children, the consequences are especially severe. Roughly 8,800 children between 6 months and 2 years old are at risk of malnutrition, a situation driven largely by the lack of access to clean water. Contaminated water not only increases the risk of gastrointestinal and parasitic diseases but is also unsuitable for livestock and crop irrigation, limiting their ability to grow nutritious food. This early deprivation jeopardizes children’s immediate health while also leading to long-term complications, undermining their capacity to grow, learn, and build a better future.
Despite the severity of the crisis, northern Argentina continues to be overlooked. Under Milei’s administration, austerity measures have taken precedence over social investment. While the national economy does show signs of recovery after decades of instability, the region’s structural inequalities remain largely unaddressed.
In response to these persistent challenges, the NGO Pata Pila has stepped in to fill critical gaps. Founded in 2015, the organization is dedicated to eradicating child malnutrition and accompanying families in situations of extreme and structural poverty.
During our internship with Pata Pila in August 2025 we spoke to Natalia – regional director of Salta province – who made it clear that the NGO serves as one of the region’s few remaining sources of hope: “The government has been weakened, meaning there are fewer solutions for the people who need them. This leaves us bearing the brunt of responsibility”.
Pata Pila’s fight to restore fundamental rights spans across more than 70 communities, where challenges extend far beyond malnutrition. Families often lack access to adequate housing, healthcare, formal employment – or, most critically, clean water, which Natalia describes as “essential for everything”.
The NGO works to ensure safe and sustainable access to water, supporting solutions such as well construction or rainwater harvesting, and coordinating with municipalities to distribute water during droughts. However, access to water in sufficient quantity and quality remains a persistent issue.
The severity of water scarcity became evident to us in Pozo Araoz, where an attempt to start a small community garden – intended to help sustain families – had failed for lack of sufficient water.
According to one of the social workers, the situation is particularly vulnerable during the summer months, when temperatures can exceed 50 degrees celsius. Heat means more thirst, but also less willingness to boil water to make it consumable.
Natalia stresses that long-term solutions require resources: “To have access to drinking water, we need to generate income to build and sustain water infrastructure”.
One of Pata Pila’s central goals is to promote economic development in vulnerablecommunities, where most women live off of the Universal Child Allowance while men often work in the fields. To expand opportunities, Pata Pila offers vocational training in skills such as baking or hairdressing, enabling women to start small businesses of their own and contribute to the economy. “The goal is to help them generate independent sources of income and empower them as women, allowing them to be something more than just a mother”, Natalia tells us.
Yet in some remote parts of northern Salta, such as Santa Victoria Este, economic empowerment remains a distant goal. Structural poverty is so extreme that securing access to the most basic of services takes priority.
The Wichí settlement of San Miguel illustrates just how deeply isolation and vulnerability run. Located over an hour’s drive from Santa Victoria Este along unpaved dirt roads, San Miguel is cut off from all the essentials of modern life. There is no running water or electricity, not even solar panels. Families live in makeshift huts, cooking with firewood and surviving on the cheapest foods like noodles and rice– leaving children vulnerable to malnutrition.
Virtually without transport services, residents struggle to reach the nearest town to access basic needs like ATMs, food shops, or health services. Exploiting this situation, “criollos” from Santa Victoria Este charge families nearly half of their monthly child allowance just for a ride into town – an allowance already insufficient to cover the elevated costs of basic goods.
“The government sends them dried food once every couple of months, but it’s not enough”, one of the social workers explained. Pata Pila offers more consistent support, yet even this help remains precarious. Poor road conditions make journeys long and unpredictable, and seasonal flooding – worsened by climate change – can cut communities off entirely, making it nearly impossible to supply water and provide essential nutritional care.
But the isolation of these communities is not only physical. The social workers warned us that the Wichí people are known for being reserved and wary towards outsiders. During our visit, many kept their distance, visibly cautious. Cultural and language barriers also discourage families from seeking medical care.
Pata Pila navigates this reality with cultural sensitivity, often bringing translators and investing time in building trust. “Most families have no desire to leave the community,” Natalia explained, “The goal should be improving their quality of life, not changing it.”
Elsewhere in the region, Pata Pila’s support remains essential, though far from sufficient. In Pozo Araoz, a community displaced by flooding in 2022, construction of a new school with the NGO’s assistance is nearing completion. “The children had been out of class for two years and were very eager to return to learning,” a teacher told us.
Yet resources are still immensely scarce. Teachers described having to split a single pencil among three children and covering some classroom supplies out of pocket, with only limited support from the Ministry of Education.
While Pata Pila is fighting on multiple fronts to address the immense challenges facing Salta’s indigenous communities, the NGO cannot carry the burden alone. Without greater action at local, national, and international levels, the region’s most vulnerable families will remain trapped in conditions of profound neglect.
By Maria Cardone & Ottilia Iglesias Harkess
October 2, 2025
