Provide Medical Care to Maya Women Artisans

The health program is having a greater impact on the lives of the artisans every day, especially in terms of health care. 

One hundred percent of the group of artisans are part of the program to receive direct financial support to attend to their health condition. 

The majority of the artisans maintain the tradition and custom of consuming natural medicines and are also accustomed to receiving and stocking up on popular medicines in the town's pharmacies. Arthritis, back pain, high blood pressure, among others, are constant health problems among the artisans. 

Because of the high cost of services and medicines in the village hospital, most of them are afraid to go and get treated, so they trust to go to a pharmacy in the community.

As a strategy to raise awareness of the importance of health care is to support them so that they can attend and stock up on medicines in a village pharmacy. 

The "BELEN'' Pharmacy has been identified as one of the best options that manages to attend and satisfy most of the health needs of the artisans. Its staff are nursing professionals who are able to attend to the aforementioned health problems, it offers and provides a wide variety of medicines, its schedule and attention is very flexible to the artisans, it offers services and home care, better prices and above all attention in the native language of the people, the T'zutujil language.

The artisans identify themselves with a health card issued by Cojolya to present themselves at the pharmacy to be attended to and to stock up on medicines. The pharmacy keeps track of each artisan. 

Attention in the mother tongue generates a high level of trust. According to the records and controls, ninety percent of the artisans visit the pharmacy monthly, which is a favorable and positive indicator for the health program.

Marcela "When I am sick or feel very tired I just take my health card and walk to the pharmacy to take medicine, I feel very safe and confident to express myself with the staff that attends me since they attend me in T'zutujil". 

Concepción "I am a single mother, I attend to the needs of my two children and therefore the attention to my personal needs comes last, thanks to the health program I can now attend to my health condition at the Hospitalito Atitlán or at Farmacia Belén".