Maya Health Alliance

Research: In order to provide health interventions with the highest impact and that create long lasting behavior change towards better health, we empirically investigate chronic disease in Guatemala and the effects of our program interventions. The data serves as a guide for us to start new programs, scale up existing programs, or seek to find a new solution to an old program. The center for indigenous health research, founded by Wuqu Kawoq, is a leader in global health research. In 2024 we published 15 research papers in areas including prenatal care, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, covid vaccines, and cervical cancer. A complete listing of our publications since our founding is located on our website. Through the end of 2025 we have over 130 peer-reviewed publications covering a range of topics including chronic malnutrition, food security, non-communicable diseases, development and gender equity in health, early child development, family planning, midwifery, and emergency obstetrics and medical anthropology.

Other Program Services: Our other program services include primary care provided at the home and community level that are defined in our partnerships with indigenous communities to identify health needs that are important to them. These include early childhood disease with an emphasis on early childhood development and development of interventions using published standards from the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Chronic disease care integrating clinical care, health education, and linguistic and cultural sensitivity to address diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, kidney failure, epilepsy, and rheumatoid arthritis and care navigation using an innovative system to get each patient the health care they need and deserve to allow them to live with complex illnesses in rural Guatemala.

Women's Health: We define women's health in the broadest sense possible. In addition to high-quality cervical cancer screening and prenatal care, we also offer management of sexually transmitted infections, family planning services, and treatment of all cancers that commonly affect women. We know women have diverse medical needs, so our program also includes the provision of robust primary care. We have developed specific expertise in the screening, diagnosis, referral, and treatment of cervical cancer, which is the leading cause of death in Guatemala. Our obstetrics initiatives focus on reduction of maternal mortality through high-quality prenatal care, midwife education, and the use of technology to make childbirth safer. The foundation of our women's health program is providing classes in Mayan languages that, when integrated with our nutrition initiatives, help women have healthier pregnancies, children, and lives. At the end of 2024 we served 9238 women.

General Nutrition: Our nutrition program provides universal and micro-nutrient supplementation to all children from 6 months to two years of age, and to all pregnant or lactating women in the communities that we serve. We focus on educating child caregivers about breastfeeding, complementary foods, common childhood illnesses, hygiene, and clean water through our community-based education programs and classes. In 2024, we provided in-home nutrition monitoring and assistance to 532 patients through 10,957 home visits.