WINGS nurse Mariela provides counseling about contraceptive methods to a patient.
WINGS
WINGS is a non-profit organization that provides quality reproductive health education and services to Guatemalan adolescents and adults, primarily those living in rural areas and in vulnerable conditions. Since its founding in 2001, WINGS has provided more than 440,184 people with sexual and reproductive health information and services. The organization has screened more than 83,687 women for cervical cancer and estimates that it has prevented around 465,378 unintended pregnancies.
About 75% of Guatemala’s indigenous population lives in poverty. And about 92% of WINGS patients are in rural areas, with one in three women lacking access to reproductive health services.
By coming to patients at the community level, WINGS narrows the gaps in reproductive health care between urban and rural residents. The organization ensures access to quality, affordable reproductive health services using a network of volunteer health promoters, mobile medical units, and stationary clinics. This network provides educational talks, private counseling, short- and long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), cervical cancer screenings, and permanent sterilization procedures.
Through its Youth Peer Education Program, WINGS trains adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19 using a methodology grounded in scientific evidence. This enables adolescents to make informed, autonomous decisions about their sexuality and reproductive health, while also empowering them to take on leadership roles, share information with their peers, and refer them to WINGS services.
Since 2015, Dr. Dubón has overseen all technical aspects of clinical services provided by WINGS. She has been in practice since 2004 and has specialized in OB-GYN services since 2008. Along with providing administrative oversight, Dr. Dubón works with three other surgeons to provide tubal ligations and vasectomies, making WINGS one of the few places in Guatemala that anyone over 18 can get permanent contraception without a partner’s consent or proof of multiple children. Michelle was part of the 2019 class of the Aspen Institute New Voices Fellowship, a group of 25 leaders from the Global South who work on the front lines of global development and health. Dr. Dubón has also been instrumental in assuring that WINGS meets the highest international standards of surgical health care.
Photo Credit: WINGS Guatemala
A regular week for the WINGS mobile teams starts on Monday, prepping and packing the vehicle with all the clinical supplies that will be needed for the scheduled clinic days that week. On Tuesday morning, the team of nurses, along with the driver, go to their first day-long pop-up clinic. Once they arrive at their destination, sometimes after hours of navigating challenging roads, they provide education and LARCs to 10-20 women. They repeat this process, traveling to the next community each evening until returning to Antigua headquarters on Friday. The whole process begins again the next week!
Photo Credit: WINGS Guatemala
The nurses that form the backbone of the WINGS clinical team are highly trained and perform all LARC insertions independently. WINGS spends three months training new nurses, making each one an incredible investment of knowledge and skill. Many WINGS nurses live hours away from the headquarters in Antigua, traveling home on the weekends, but spending the week providing services either in the Antigua clinic or though a mobile unit.
Photo Credit: WINGS Guatemala
Each pop-up clinic begins with an educational talk, or charla. The WINGS nurse explains basic anatomy, pregnancy, and how contraception works so that each woman is able to choose the best contraceptive method for her. WINGS does not use coercive techniques to encourage women to choose specific methods over others. Rather, each individual has an opportunity to ask questions, change their mind, or even decide NOT to get a method. This is all part of WINGS’ rights-based, patient-centered approach.
Photo Credit: WINGS Guatemala
Woman (right) holds an IUD at a WINGS mobile clinic. IUDs are LARCs—Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives—offered by WINGS.
Photo Credit: WINGS Guatemala
A group of WINGS Youth Peer Education Program members hold a variety of contraceptive methods to discuss with their peers.
Photo Credit: WINGS Guatemala
Virtual Events with WINGS
This World Contraception Day, we were honored to be joined by our Global Partners, WINGS and Wuqu’ Kawoq (Maya Health Alliance). Our Guatemalan-based partners work to deliver high-quality reproductive health education and services to rural communities in Guatemala.
Through our Global Partners program, Population Connection supports a growing number of grassroots organizations around the world working to increase access to education, public health and family planning services. Their…
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