Over six months, nutrition technicians partner with families to develop personalized, sustainable care plans to support children’s growth and development.
Wuqu' Kawoq
The organization was founded on January 1, 2007, a date known as “Wuqu’ Kawoq” on the traditional Mayan calendar, and which represents medicine and healthcare providers.
Guatemala’s income distribution is among the most unequal in the world. Women in Guatemala are ten times more likely than a woman in the United States to die during childbirth, and as many as 70% of children in rural Maya communities suffer chronic malnutrition. Indigenous Mayan communities in particular lack access to health care — many live in remote areas and do not want to be treated in a hospital where no one speaks their language, or where they may not be treated with dignity.
Maternal mortality rates among indigenous women are three times as high as those of non-indigenous women, and the rate of type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes among indigenous people is more than double the national rate.
Led by indigenous Maya, Wuqu’ Kawoq provides high quality health care to more than 11,000 patients annually through visits to homes, clinics, and community centers in Guatemala’s Central Highlands. Community Health Workers provide care in the communities where patients live and in their primary languages. About 90% of patients identify as women or girls.
Program areas include child health, chronic disease, maternal health, primary care, and women’s health.
Photo: Wuqu’ Kawoq nurse hiking to a village. © Wuqu’ Kawoq
Limited information and family pressures prevent most indigenous women in rural Guatemala from using effective family planning methods. Wuqu’ Kawoq’s community-based nurses provide education and access to a range of methods in women’s homes and local health centers.
Every year, Wuqu’ Kawoq provides critical reproductive health care, including modern contraception and cancer screening, to more than 5,000 women.
Photo Credit: Wuqu’ Kawoq
Wuqu’ Kawoq is one of the leading publishers of research in Guatemala, including a major study published in The Lancet Global Health that offers additional evidence pointing to the importance of providing healthcare in patients’ first languages.
Over six months, nutrition technicians partner with families to develop personalized, sustainable care plans to support children’s growth and development.
Over six months, nutrition technicians partner with families to develop personalized, sustainable care plans to support children’s growth and development.
Wuqu’ Kawoq provides traditional midwives with a phone application and other tools to monitor mothers and babies throughout pregnancy. If a problem arises, the application alerts Wuqu’ Kawoq medical staff.
The groundbreaking phone application program has dramatically reduced maternal mortality by building culturally appropriate pathways for indigenous mothers to seek advanced care when they need it.
Nutrition program height measurement.
Wuqu’ Kawoq Leadership Team.
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…
Read More