Maya Health Alliance | Wuqu’ Kawoq (Guatemala)

Maya Health Alliance | Wuqu’ Kawoq aims to eliminate barriers to health and wellbeing for all Guatemalans. Led by indigenous healthcare workers, they unite medicine, culture, and language to provide high-quality care in rural Guatemala. While more than half of the Guatemalan population speaks a Mayan language, most healthcare services are delivered in Spanish. Maya Health Alliance | Wuqu’ Kawoq provides care in the communities where their patients live and in the languages they speak.

In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation supported the project “Detecting and Preventing Cervical Cancer in Rural Guatemala”.

To prevent illness and deaths from cervical cancer, Maya Health Alliance | Wuqu’ Kawoq is combining the latest in screening technology with culturally-sensitive care and navigation. The Cervical Cancer Project provides women in rural Guatemala with the information and resources they need to detect and address early signs of disease. This programme serves more than 2,000 primarily Mayan women in six regions in Guatemala.

While cervical cancer can be prevented and successfully treated with early detection, it remains the leading fatal cancer among women in Guatemala. More than 80% of cervical cancer deaths in the world occur in lower- and middle-income countries like Guatemala, where women face an array of barriers to accessing effective screening and follow-up care, including cost, transportation, language, and discrimination.

To eliminate these barriers, indigenous community health workers travel to patients’ homes and villages to provide screening and follow-up services in patients’ Mayan languages. When advanced treatment is required, the NGO’s navigators accompany patients to help them bridge language and cultural gaps in the public health system. Their new microbiology laboratory supports human papillomavirus (HPV) screening and other diagnostics. The Cervical Cancer Project thus brings lifesaving, high quality, state-of-the-art prevention and care to thousands of women in remote areas.

Eurofins Foundation’ support has helped cover supplies and travel for nurses in this lifesaving cervical cancer screening and treatment program. Specifically, the support has enabled Maya Health Alliance to continue with Pap testing of 955 women in rural Guatemala as of September 2022. Among women tested from Jan-September 2022, about 60% required follow up testing, and 1.5% ultimately needed cancer treatment. The organisation’s patient navigators help those requiring additional services navigate the public health system for treatment. This program brings the additional benefit of training and supporting the work of indigenous health workers and educating the women they visit about cervical cancer and the importance of regular screenings.

In 2022/2023, the Eurofins Foundation renews its support to this programme.

This project contributes to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals

Country