Family Planning for Guatemalans Living in Poverty

In many of Guatemala’s rural indigenous communities, poverty, precarious livelihoods, and chronic child malnutrition make family planning a vital health and economic priority. Large families are common, and, with  limited resources, many families struggle to provide adequate food and education for the children they already have. For those who choose surgical family planning methods, this option is a permanent and highly effective solution. However, limited access, cultural beliefs, and misinformation—particularly the stigma around vasectomy—often keep people from seeking permanent contraception.

To address these barriers, WINGS provides rights-based and culturally sensitive family planning information, offers a full range of free short- and long-term methods, and carries out targeted one day events, called “jornadas,” across the country that include voluntary vasectomies and tubal ligations. By providing services in local languages, addressing fears and misconceptions, and centering each person’s informed decision, WINGS creates safe spaces for lasting choices.

Recently, WINGS organized a public information campaign about vasectomies in Tecpán, a predominantly Maya Kaqchikel municipality. Promoting this service for the first time in this area required extra effort, since myths and stigma around vasectomies remain strong. Thanks to persistent community outreach and culturally sensitive messaging, nine people chose this method and attended the first jornada there, breaking barriers and paving the way for others. WINGS also organized a tubal ligation campaign in San Sebastián Belejú and neighboring Maya Pocomchí communities, where 11 people elected this surgery. Patients came from families facing poverty, food insecurity, and limited access to land or formal employment. Many expressed confidence in their decision, explaining that permanent contraception would allow them to better care for their children and ease the pressures caused by scarce resources.

These twenty people who chose these surgical procedures represent more than numbers for WINGS. These are individuals making decisions that help them to plan their families, stabilize their household resources, and improve the health and futures of their children and children to come. Supporting voluntary permanent contraception in culturally appropriate ways helps break cycles of poverty and strengthens community wellbeing.