Providing Improverished Guatemalans With Sustainable Access to Medical & Surgical Care.

partner for surgery

Improving Health. Empowering Communities.

Visit us on Facebook   YouTube   BlogSpot

Focus & Facts

Since 2001, we have provided medical care and education to more than 25,000 and facilitated surgery for over 5,000 Guatemalans.

The majority of our patients need General surgery (49%), followed by Gynecology (21%), Plastic/Reconstructive (20%) and ENT, neurology and urology (10%).

Rural Guatemala

We focus on rural Guatemala, more specifically on the rural indigenous (Mayan) population. However, we offer help to anyone who is impoverished and lacks access to surgical care.

New programs are attracting more women and children to our triage missions and empowering rural youth to help their communities.

Departments

We currently serve the following departments: Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, El Quiché, Solola and parts of Totonicapan, Izabal, and El Peten. These departments have some of the highest poverty rates of Guatemala.

We have plans to expand our activities to the departments of Huehuetenango and Santa Rosa, respectively.

Health in Guatemala

Good health is a prerequisite for equitable economic development. However, many Guatemalans lack access to basic medical and surgical care:

  • According to the UN 2007 Human Development Report, Guatemala ranks 118 out of 177 countries; per capita public spending on Guatemalan health care is $16;

  • 1 out of 10 Guatemalans suffers from a surgically curable condition/disability, however only 11% has access to surgical care;

  • Only 12% of extremely poor women receive prenatal care by a doctor, only 5.7% in a hospital;

  • Doctors attend only 10% of births among extremely poor women; maternal mortality is 192/100,000;

  • Complications from untreated burns are among the leading causes of death and disability among Guatemalan children;

  • Infant mortality is 92/1,000; stunting is 60%;