Overview

The Healthy Mothers and Babies in Guatemala project (2021-2024) is working to improve the health of pregnant indigenous women and their newborns in the departments of Quetzaltenango and San Marcos by increasing access to and use of high-quality, culturally respectful antenatal care (ANC). The project, known in the local language as Utz’ Na’n, expands on the work carried out under the Strengthening Antenatal Care for Indigenous Women in Guatemala project (2019-2021). The project has demonstrated increases in early use and adherence of ANC among indigenous pregnant women and adolescents, as well as improvements in quality of care (ie, use of lab results for decision making, tracking clients by gestational age, client record keeping).

The main objectives of the project are to:

• Increase early uptake and adherence of prenatal care (individual and group) through the implementation of community mobilization strategies (including remote counseling)
• Improve the quality of prenatal care services that are culturally relevant and meet the needs of pregnant indigenous women and adolescents
• Generate evidence and learning to inform the creation and review of culturally sensitive standard operating regulations and procedures, which will improve the availability, acceptability, and quality of prenatal care services among indigenous women and adolescents

Approaches to achieving project goals include:

• Creating a strong, ongoing focus on community engagement and social accountability
• Engage and equip comadronas, traditional midwives, to reach pregnant women and promote linkages to health facilities  
• Engaging and empowering women, men, and young people through gender and youth strategies
• Implementing participatory planning and monitoring
• Strengthening district-level planning and monitoring and the capacities of local partners and stakeholders

Over three years, the project expects to increase use of facility-based ANC services by indigenous women and adolescents, improve the quality of ANC services at the facilities, and generate evidence and learning for future initiatives.