Prevent and Detect Cervical Cancer in Guatemala

At the beginning of October, the Guatemalan Government officially ended the state of calamity, removing nation-wide restrictions, and transferring the continued management of COVID mitigation to the Ministry of Health and municipal authorities. We expect to see increasing movement across many sectors soon. This decision, as needed as it may be, will increase the risk of more infections and disruptions to an already decimated health system. 

In terms of the current state of our clinical service provision, we have reopened our Antigua clinic and are hosting regional clinics with stringent safety precautions in place. We are constantly making modifications to our services and protocols in order to protect our staff and patients. 

Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to offer tubal ligations, but we are actively talking to partners in order to begin as soon as it is safe to do so. All WINGS team members are working full-time, but compared to pre-pandemic times our services are down, although higher than we had anticipated. Tubal ligations account for the vast majority of this decline, but this is also affected by the lack of public transportation (patients are finding it difficult to come to us), and the fact that the hotels our staff stayed in are still closed or not fully operational makes it impossible to go out to the communities for a whole week as we used to. In sum, we are back; we are strong; we will keep on going!

I recently read an article which described the current economic recovery in a “K-shape”. From the midpoint of a bold vertical line begins two rightward traversing lines, one slanting 45 degrees upward from the horizontal, and the other 45 degrees downward. WINGS, thanks to the steadfast leadership of its Board, the unwavering support of individuals like you, and its staff’s quick decision-making and strong internal processes, is fortunate to be situated in the line heading upward, and as such our responsibility and commitment to the almost 25,000 individuals we reach every year with sexual and reproductive health services and education is stronger than ever. We know that WINGS, with your support, will continue to be in a position from which it can provide these critical essential services to our communities. WINGS must continue to be agile, determined and steadfast in our emphasis on quality care as our country and our world begin standing back up from the blow that COVID has dealt us. Every day we make progress. Our plans remain unchanged: to have national presence through mobile units by 2025.

Guatemala and the United States are both living in a traumatized state, with a public health disaster, an economic crisis, environmental threats, demands for social and racial justice, and a very long etcetera. If I may dare paraphrase Dr. King’s “I have a Dream” speech, twenty-twenty is not an end, but a beginning, and this pandemic must be a new beginning towards a better and brighter future for all, but especially for the most vulnerable populations. 

As always, thank you for your continued support.