Guatemala Community Health Work Team (130526GUWK)

Health indicators in Guatemala fall behind nearly every other country in Central America.   Although improvements have been noted, Guatemala’s infant mortality rate remains the highest in Central America and the third highest in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region.  Guatemala has the highest rate of chronic malnutrition (low height for age) in LAC and one of the highest in the world.  At the national level, 49% of children under the age of five years are chronically malnourished (stunted) and nearly one quarter are underweight (low weight for age).  If current patterns continue, it would take 20 years to eliminate stunting in the ladino and more than 80 years in indigenous populations. 

 

Hunger is intolerably high in Guatemala and trends indicate it is getting worse.  According to FAO figures, about 2.8 million of all Guatemalans are undernourished.   This is twice the number of undernourished (1.4 million) in 1990-92.  Domestic food production is failing to meet internal need in Guatemala. WFP estimates that local production of the three main staple crops of beans, rice and maize reaches only about 60% of the demand and food imports are increasing.  Most of the rural poor (87%) depend on agriculture for their livelihoods in Guatemala.  Nearly half (47%) farm on 2 hectares of land or less, while 2% of landowners own 70% of total land.   The pattern repeats what is seen in much of the world; rural farmers experience the most poverty, face the most serious food shortages, and have the least access to land.  They farm on smaller plots that are of inferior quality and are geographically remote.  To aggravate the situation, access to financial services including credit, by the poor in Guatemala is severely limited and undermines an already high risk situation for rural households by eliminating a means to make farm purchases and/or to diversify livelihood sources.

 

Goals and Objectives

Goal: Improve the physical, social, and spiritual health of the people in the municipality of San Juan Chamelco, Guatemala.

 

Objective 1: Reduce the incidence and improve case management of pneumonia in children under 2 years old.

Objective 2: Reduce the incidence and improve case management of childhood diarrhea in children under 2 years old.

Objective 3: Reduce stunting and underweight in children under 5 years old.

Objective 4: Improve health of pregnant women and mothers.

 

Team Members and Donations

This team includes Jim Bjornstad, Douglas McElmurry, David B. Curtis, Phillip Martindale, Leanne Martindale, John Taylor, David Volke, James Volke, Dennis Johnson and Gracie May Bjornstad. Some of these team members may have personal fundraising pages. If so, you may donate on the personal page and you'll find a link on the right side column of this page under Fundraisers. If not, you can still make a donation to the team by clicking the Donate Now button, above.

 

Greatest benefit the team will bring:

The team will either build ventilated stoves or improved latrines. The purpose of ventilated stoves is to reduce indoor air pollution and contribute to a reduction of pneumonia, particularly for children under 2 years old. Improved latrines will contribute to a reduction in the incidence of diarrhea.

 

Challenges the team may encounter:

There will be mental, physical and spiritual challenges during the course of the trip.  The volunteers, with the help of the MTI staff in Guatemala, will help each other overcome any obstacles they may encounter.

 

Trip Dates:

The team will be traveling from May 25 - June 2, 2013.