Impact Global Health Alliance Global was recently featured in the 2016 journal edition of Global Health Science and Practice in an article looking at the scalability of Impact Global Health Alliance’ Casa Materna program in Guatemala. Impact Global Health Alliance Global’s evidence-based study helped to shed light on ways to improve maternal healthcare in Guatemala.
Giving birth in Guatemala
Many Guatemalan women have few options on where they give birth. In the rural areas where Impact Global Health Alliance works, clinics, hospitals, and trained medical professionals are few and far between. Every year many mothers risk their lives and their newborns’ health by giving birth in their homes without the help of a skilled birth attendant. Since 2002, Impact Global Health Alliance Global has worked in the rural department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, an area with one of the highest rates of maternal death in the Western hemisphere at 338 per 100,000. The population here is predominantly Mayan: the indigenous population of Guatemala who face geographical and social challenges in health care access. Even the women who do have access to government birthing facilities are less inclined to use them because of language and cultural barriers. In addition, many facilities are simply too far away, unreliable, and difficult to reach. Giving birth thus becomes a dangerous undertaking without proper care and easily accessible resources. From 2002-2012, Impact Global Health Alliance Global documented 104 maternal deaths among 30,780 births in the community, a rate of 338 per 100,000 live births. To put this into perspective, in the U.S. the rate is 14 deaths per 100,000 births.
Finding success in local, culturally relevant solutions
There is no “one size fits all” solution, as Global Health: Science and Practice warns us, “The field of global health suffers from a tendency to search for models that can be universally recommended.” Unfortunately, in some instances, this has meant that successful local efforts have been rapidly implemented on a much larger scale, without careful consideration of the new environments, resulting in unsuccessful outcomes.
Impact Global Health Alliance’ Global is helping to avoid this pitfall by working alongside local organizations and the local community to establish birthing centers, or Casa Maternas, that provide services to Mayan women in a culturally relevant way. Thus far, there has been a significant improvement in the number of pregnant women receiving the preventive and life-saving care they need. Casa Maternas have proven to be an effective and efficient solution in this area, but this model is not necessarily suited to meet the needs in all settings.
In partnership with the Guatemalan Government, Impact Global Health Alliance Global is focusing on specific best practices found at Casa Maternas birthing centers that can be applied to improve governmental services to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths. These practices include:
- Upgrading existing health posts to include 24/7 labor and delivery care
- Ensuring traditional birth attendants are welcome to accompany women in these centers
- Ensuring the availability of nurses who speak the local language
Join us in making a difference
Impact Global Health Alliance Global is honored to be working with the Guatemalan Government to bring hope through health to women and children throughout the country. Join us in making a difference, please consider donating today. Just $15 provides two women with enough prenatal vitamins for their pregnancy, and $100 provides the medical care and supplies for four safe deliveries at a Casa Materna birthing facility.
For more information about the work Impact Global Health Alliance Global is doing in Guatemala, please visit our website.
A new mom prepares to give birth at the Casa Materna with her mother.
Article by Annalisa Kristoffersen, Impact Global Health Alliance Global’s Outreach and Development Intern
