Cobourg’s Horizons of Friendship hosts Canada-Guatemala health care exchange – Northumberland News
Northumberland health care workers learn about maternal, newborn and child health in Guatemala
COBOURG — Losing five of her children to preventable illnesses, Guatemala Indigenous midwife Nazaria Ajanel knows the value of modern health care.
Ajanel was one of five Guatemalan community health-care providers visiting Northumberland and southern Ontario from March 19 to 28 in the first of annual exchanges organized through Horizons of Friendship, a nonprofit international development organization with charitable status based in Cobourg and its Guatemalan partner, the Association for Health Promotion, Research and Education (PIES). The exchange is part of $13.2 million four-year project funded with $11.8 million from Global Affairs Canada. Horizons is fundraising for the remaining costs.
The project aims to decrease maternal and newborn deaths by training and equipping more than 1,000 Indigenous midwives. The visiting team shared experiences on the maternal, newborn and child-health realities faced by Indigenous Mayan communities in the province of Totonicapán, the western highlands region of Guatemala.
