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On a cold February morning three medical students sat in the breezy foyer of St.George’s Hospital awaiting a visit from Health Poverty Action. The prize to be gained – entry to Health Unlimited´s Developing Insights Programme.
The Programme offers exposure not only to health problems and their solutions in deprived communities, but also to the cultural, social and political backdrop which give these problems context. Following a successful interview in which we promised to raise a sizeable fundraising total – we were in!
On meeting with Health Poverty Action’s director of operations in Guatemala it was clear that immersion into Mayan community culture would figure strongly in our brief. In Guatemala Health Poverty Action works with rural Mayan communities and with urban districts, primarily to raise awareness on community health and social rights, but also to promote and educate on health and to support cultural integrity in the face of political change.
The programme afforded freedom for us to select an area of particular interest and we chose to focus on problems with maternity/obstetric care in rural Mayan communities. With Mayan interpreters we were able to interview Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in rural villages and towns to gain insight into their experiences. Traditionally Mayan maternity care is carried out by TBAs, whose skills are passed on from generation to generation in an anecdotal rather than evidence based manner.
A government programme has provided some formal education for TBAs in an attempt to reduce Maternal Deaths and Infant Mortality. We visited Government run Health Centres to gain their view on how successful the education drive has been and on how TBAs could be better utilised by Health Centres.
We learnt that a collaborative approach was necessary for the best healthcare outcomes, with integration (rather than replacement) of ‘modern medicine’ into traditional customs whilst scientific and social roles also needed to be taken into account. Health Poverty Action’s holistic approach to health seemed crucial in helping TBAs overcome the obstacles to integration with Health Centres and Hospitals.
Health Poverty Action uses Local Radio and Cable TV to spread health and rights promotion messages. We visited Radio Stations during broadcast and attended TV filming in several communities and were able to interview Health Poverty Action's media workers. Health Poverty Action broadcasts currently focus on education in communicable diseases such as HIV and on Workers Rights - particularly child workers. The aim is to empower through education by encouraging communities to organise themselves and to take control of their problems.
Having visited and stayed in Mayan communities and having interviewed key workers in Health and Health promotion, the Developing Insights Programme has helped us contextualise the health problems faced by Guatemalan communities. Our thanks go out to Tom (Guatemalan Director) and the team for such an enriching experience, and we hope to continue building on our links with HU in Guatemala whilst applying the knowledge we have gained to further communities both home and abroad.
Writtern by David MacGarty
David along with Will and James spent two weeks with Health Unlimited in Guatemala, having raised over £10,000 for Health Unlimited's work.
