TULA FOUNDATION

Published purpose

The project aims to reduce maternal and child mortality by strengthening essential maternal, newbord and child health (MNCH) services in the Guatemala. Project activities include: (1) providing training and technical assistance to the Ministry of Health to develop and deploy distance education programs for health professionals and community healthcare workers; (2) providing training and technical assistance to health professional to use a community eHealth system for improving MNCH services to rural communities; (3) providing technical assistance to health authorities at the national, district and community levels to use MNCH data from community eHealth system; and (4) proving technical assistance to increase the dissemination and use of vital events data. COVID-19 response activities include: (1) establishing a real-time community surveillance system to identify COVID-19 outbreaks and cases and provide reliable data for follow-up; (2) collaborating with regional health authorities to ensure monitoring of pregnant women and malnourished children using real-time community surveillance epidemiological health system; (3) conducting training courses for personnel working at the primary, secondary and tertiary health care levels on COVID-19 protocols; (4) collaborating with the Ministry of Health on implementing their communication strategy on COVID-19 for rural Mayan-speaking communities in target departments; and (5) providing essential Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE) supply for frontline health workers. The project is expected to contribute directly the improved health of approximately two million people in the departments of Alta Verapaz, Huehuetenango, El Quiche and Sololá in Guatemala. Tula Foundation is implementing the project in collaboration with TulaSalud, McMaster University, Tigo Foundation, Alliance for Nutrition Foundation, and the Guatemalan Ministry of Health.