Our culturally adapted community-based birthing centers have saved countless mothers and infants in Guatemala and Kenya. They provide women with vital health services during pregnancy, delivery, and after birth processes. During the first quarter of 2019, we are continuing to see development from Curamericas project sites and are reaching out to more communities in some of the most forgotten areas of Guatemala and Kenya.

Guatemala

So far this year in Guatemala, we have continued to identify and deal with high-risk births, either through on-site intervention in our Casas Maternas or through referrals to higher-level care. For example, pregnant woman with pre-eclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage and hemorrhage from miscarriage were successfully diagnosed and referred to hospitals in Pueblo Nuevo and Calhuitz. The Casas have also stabilized two newborns with asphyxia in Pueblo Nuevo last quarter.

We have also seen significant advances in identifying cases of malnutrition among children under 24 months and successful training of traditional birth attendants. In addition, Curamericas finished constructing and opened our very new Toquian Grande Casa Materna, which will provide life-saving care to many more mothers in the region. We are continuing to train Comadronas, educate communities in disease prevention and malnutrition, and form care groups in new coverage areas around our new Casa Materna.

Health outcomes achieved Jan – March 2019 in Guatemala:

• Percentage of homes that safely treated and stored drinking water reached an average of 70% in the Tuzlaj Coya territory
• In the San Miguel Acatán municipality, facility births continue to increase, reaching 69%
• 77% of pregnant women in Calhuitz received 4 prenatal visits, 81% took prenatal supplements, and 72% received postpartum services with the first 48 hours of birth

Kenya

In Kisii, Kenya, the first quarter was highlighted by the scale up of our Community Birthing Center, CBIO, and Care Group concepts in Iranda, an area servicing 31 communities and population of 16,464. The KIKOP team has also rolled out a new digital census data collection method to better collect accurate baseline data that will guide our interventions going forward. With the help of Curamericas Global volunteer Ellen Libby, we hope to digitalize most of our data collection from households in the region. Furthermore, The KIKOP team educated all communities in the Matongo area of Kisii on preventative health behaviors. This includes malaria prevention, dehydration, nutrition, feces disposal, and WASH.

Heath outcomes achieved Jan – March 2019 in Kisii County, Kenya:

• 47% increase in Community Birthing Center based delivery, this quarter compared to last quarter
• 78% increase in pregnant women attending health education lessons
• 36% increase in pregnant women referred for obstetric emergencies

Curamericas Global hopes to expand upon the success found so far in 2019, as we continue to partner with underserved communities to provide hope through health to millions of mothers and children.

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