By Elissa Ladwig | Development and Communication Coordinator
2022 was a year of forward motion for WINGS. We were able to reactivate clinical services to near pre-pandemic levels and reinitiate the high-growth strategic plan that was paused during the pandemic. We largely succeeded in establishing our historical mix of contraceptive methods, in particular tubal ligation services, the contraceptive method most impacted by the lack of reliable access to hospitals. By working alongside valuable hospital partners, we were able to begin to address the significant demand for this service and finished the year having performed 34% more tubal ligation operations than projected. We are still operating with a waiting list for voluntary surgical contraception, and a major goal of 2023 will be addressing this need.
In addition to our reproductive health clinical services, last year we launched our second Youth Peer Education Program in Quetzaltenango (also known as Xela), the second largest city in Guatemala. This first cohort underwent year 1 of training and began to provide community and one-on-one peer discussions, touching on themes of consent, relationships of power, and pregnancy prevention. WINGS also began a second Community Advisory Board in the northern region of Alta Verapaz. This group of local community leaders act as a voice for their communities, conduct observations and provide recommendations to our team each year that we incorporate into our work plans to better serve communities. Both the addition of a Youth Peer Education Program in Xela and the addition of another Community Advisory Board complement the services we already provide in these regions, enabling us to reach more individuals in a comprehensive manner, with a focus on continuous quality improvement.
WINGS work in 2022 prevented 31,599 unplanned pregnancies, 7 maternal deaths and 156 infant deaths (calculated using the Marie Stopes International “Impact 2” model).
Your support was critical in achieving these goals. For that, we’d like to say muchas gracias.
Thank you.
From the entire team at WINGS Guatemala
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