When they speak, their communities listen

August 9, 2021

In March 2021, Guatemala began vaccination against COVID-19 prioritizing health personnel, including traditional midwives, Mayan women who are part of the group of traditional therapists recognized by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance (MSPAS).

Their scope is not minor. Of the 22 Mayan groups in Guatemala, the Q'eqchi' population constitutes the second largest ethnolinguistic group, with around 1.3 million people according to the 2018 National Population Census. They also represent the third most spoken language in the country, after Spanish and K'iche'. They inhabit an extensive region that includes highlands and warm lowlands, found in four departments and part of Belize.

For several Mayan communities, including the Q'eqchi' culture, the service midwives provide to other women is associated with a gift, which is a call made to them through dreams or visions.

Among the Q'eqchi' of the highlands is the community of San Pablo Xucaneb, in Cobán, Alta Verapaz. This community has five midwives who combine Western learning, skills and methods with their own cultural knowledge, practices and rituals to help pregnant women and their newborns, as well as to advise teenagers and guide the community on health issues.

By the end of July 2021, four of these midwives, ages 45 to 55, accepted immunization against COVID-19 and completed the two-dose schedule. Leslie Xol Tut, who is part of a network of professionals trained by the Guatemalan Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance to follow up on COVID-19 cases, has also accompanied the group of Mayan Q'eqchi' midwives.

Leslie says that in San Pablo Xucaneb there have been challenges in preventing COVID-19, such as dealing with the misinformation that arose after the isolation of some asymptomatic cases, because several people who finished their quarantine began to say that the virus was not as strong and that it was a flu-like fever. "None (of the cases) warranted a serious transfer and only fever and tiredness were reported, but misinformation began in the community with misunderstandings, even saying that it was not good to get vaccinated because they were going to get a chip," says Leslie.

The midwives stepped forward and agreed to get vaccinate. This example has motivated other people in the community to enroll in the registry system set up by the Ministry of Health's National Vaccination Plan. "They have a lot of recognition and respect in the community. They are an example and when they speak, people listen, so they help to educate more people to get vaccinated, what they say is more credible to people," she says.

PAHO delivers supplies to protect midwives while performing their work.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has provided support with the deployment of COVID-19 vaccination in the country, and in strengthening primary care and biosecurity during the pandemic. It has also provided support to this group of midwives and five other midwives from different neighboring communities, mainly rural, through the delivery of kits with materials to support their work, so that they can do it safely, and to promote intercultural training dialogues on their work.

The prioritization of midwives within the National Vaccination Plan has protected midwives so they can perform their work in a safer way, as well as to recognize their contributions to the health sector during the pandemic.

In the department of Alta Verapaz, vaccination continues. According to official MSPAS data, 48,755 people have been vaccinated as of July 2021, out of a population of 769,237 expected to be reached.

PAHO stresses the importance of the participation of indigenous communities and national immunization strategies with culturally and linguistically appropriate approaches to ensure that the access to vaccines is equitable and with solidarity, leaving no one behind.

Links

Protecting the Health of Indigenous Peoples from COVID-19 in the Americas

Guatemala

Social and Environmental Determinants for Health Equity

COVID-19 Vaccines

Immunization

Gender Equality in Health

Cultural Diversity and Health