Executive Summary

Guatemala has among the highest rates of maternal mortality in Latin America. Moreover, Mayan women are nearly three times as likely to die from preventable pregnancy-related conditions than non-indigenous women in Guatemala. These disparities are due to barriers to accessing hospital-level care, including language, culture, distance, cost, and discrimination. Maya Health Alliance | Wuqu' Kawoq eliminates avoidable deaths from childbirth in rural Guatemala by equipping indigenous midwives with a checklist-based smartphone application to detect high-risk complications and connect with clinical support as needed. When hospital services are required, indigenous care navigators accompany mothers throughout, providing translation, coordination, advocacy, and support. Partners aim to scale this intervention from approximately 800 births to 5,000 births in rural Guatemala and reduce deaths by 80% across all sites. Since the program launched in 2016, mothers accessing hospital care for conditions such as preeclampsia and cesarean deliveries has increased by 50%, and deaths from childbirth have dropped significantly.

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