Improving Maternal-Infant Health for Mayan Women

Since last we wrote, the Maternal Child Health Program has enrolled 8 new women into the program, bringing to 67 the number of children who are being assisted.

In our last update, we mentioned Vilma, our social work volunteer, conducting a survey with the women. This has been very helpful for Pueblo a Pueblo as it has allowed us to assess areas of strength as well as areas where we can improve the program. Some of the most important results from her report are the following:

• When asked what the most helpful part of the program is, many mothers mentioned access to medical care, coverage of prescriptions, coverage of labor and delivery costs, and the personal attention received after the birth of their child.
• Among the topics that the mothers feel were most helpful and that they put into practice in their homes were Hygiene and Improving the Nutrition of your Child.
• With respect to the coverage of medical costs, 62% of the mothers interviewed reported that medical expenses for the family have decreased, 35% reported that their children get sick less often, and 4% said they are able to take more children to the doctor. This is important because it shows that the Maternal Child Health Program is not only serving the sponsored child, but also their siblings.
• Topics mothers would like learn about include: How to prepare nutritious meals and Natural Medicine.
• Topics mothers would like to revisit are Family planning and contraceptive methods.

We are now working on incorporating their suggestions into our programming and look forward to reporting back on the outcomes of these additions.