Family Planning for Guatemalans Living in Poverty

Last month, Senayda and Josefina, our nurses in Sololá and Totonicapán, travelled to San Francisco (Department of Totonicapán) to provide long-term contraception. As it was a mainly indigenous community, Josefina offered the initial educational talk in Mayan K’ich’e.

Isabel, a 14-year-old patient, entered the clinic room with a 6-month baby. Isabel told Senayda she blamed her partner for the unwanted pregnancy, as he told her she could not get pregnant in her first sexual intercourse. After having the baby, her older sister, who lives in the US, talked to her about contraception. Isabel complained about no one explaining her anything about reproductive health before.

Even though her partner agreed on using contraception, her mother-in-law opposed and said it was against their beliefs. After hearing the story, Senayda advised her to get an IUD, as she feared Isabel could suffer physical violence if her partner’s family learned she was using contraception. However, Isabel said that, after talking to her sister, she understood it was her right to use a method and that she preferred the subdermal hormonal implant.

Isabel told Senayda how grateful she was to WINGS for providing counselling in K’ich’e, as she had understanding difficulties in Spanish. “We see stories like Isabel’s every day in rural communities”, Senayda says. “It is discouraging to see none of the education and health centers offer reproductive health education in Mayan languages.”

WINGS recognizes language can be a barrier for people to access information about reproductive health. Your support allows us have an excellent team of local nurses and promoters who help us reach indigenous communities and ensure they exercise their right to reproductive health education.

A few weeks ago, field educator Luis offered an educational talk about contraceptive methods in a small community in Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa (department of Escuintla). After the talk, two women approached him. One of them was Karen, a 27-year-old woman who heard WINGS was going to be in her community, and she came just to show her gratitude to us. Months ago, she attended a WINGS clinic where she got a subdermal hormonal implant, and not only she was now able to space her pregnancies – the implant gave her regular menstruation.

The other woman’s name was Yulissa, a 22-year-old with two children who got her subdermal hormonal implant at the health center of her community. She was worried because she suffered constant bleeding and, when she came back to the health center, they did not assist her. She arrived to the talk to get further information about the implant and she told Luis no one explained her most of the things he mentioned. After making sure it was a normal side effect, Luis asked Yulissa for her phone number in order to receive a follow-up call from WINGS.

We are pleased to see that our patients are satisfied with our work and their choice. For WINGS, the practical implementation of rights-based care means that we treat every patient in a non-judgmental, non-coercive manner that provides ample education for each individual to make well-informed decisions.  

Each patient receives comprehensive information about available contraceptive methods before they choose which one is right for them and can opt out at any moment if they change their minds. This is important in a context where not everyone has been informed of their rights in past medical treatments or other facets of their lives.