Since 2002, Impact Global Health Alliance Global has partnered with Curamericas-Guatemala to create sustainable change in the lives of moms and babies in the western highlands of Guatemala. With initial startup funding from USAID, Ronald McDonald House Charities, the Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation and many other generous donors, Impact Global Health Alliance has established a network of thousands of local Community Health Workers that reach local Mayan populations through the innovative Casa Maternas model. Moreover, their remote, isolated, northern Guatemala locations were once known as the Triangle of Death, with infant and maternal mortality rates once approximating that of Afghanistan. Today, this region in Guatemala has been transformed and now becoming known as the Triangle of Life with such dramatic declines in infant and maternal mortality rates.
The IGHA-G Casa Materna model of safe, culturally sensitive birthing centers utilizes a cadre of volunteers and women’s care groups (moms teaching moms important health lessons such as breast-feeding, hygiene with lessons on hand washing and construction of latrines, kitchen gardens, vaccinations etc). This project has been visited and studied by health leaders from Haiti and Kenya.
Project Strategy
This project uses a three-pronged approach to build a sustainable, community-owned health care program that serves impoverished communities:
Health Education: Prevention is key to a healthy life, so Community Health Workers and volunteers meet with mothers in their homes to provide life-saving education.
Health Services: On their regular community visits, Community Health Workers and volunteers provide basic care services like immunization, checkups, and distribution of vitamins and basic medicines.
Empowering Communities: All sustainable programs need community involvement. Impact Global Health Alliance partners with community leaders and volunteers to best serve the needs of each project area.
The Impact Global Health Alliance-Guatemala project is located in one of the most isolated areas of Guatemala, the western highlands, where many communities cannot even be reached by car. This lack of access has led to an impoverished population with little resources to seek healthcare.
Our Impact
Since the beginning of the project, Impact Global Health Alliance-Guatemala has:
Reduced infant mortality by 35% in our project areas
Built 4 Casa Materna Maternity Clinics to serve local communities
