Global Links began its program in Guatemala with shipment of a 40-foot sea container of medical aid in September 2007. Working closely with the Guatemalan Ministry of Health and the Guatemalan PAHO office, Global Links choses hospitals where a donation of aid will have the greatest long-term impact for the population. For these first shipments, emphasis has been placed on provincial hospitals outside the capital city to improve access to health care in more isolated parts of the country.
One of the poorer countries in Central America, Guatemala's life expectancy is 69 years and the country has a literacy rate of 69%. It is also one of the most populous countries in Central America, with a population of over 12,700,000, more than half of whom live below the poverty line. According to UNDP statistics, they have a maternal mortality rate of 240 women per 100,000 live births, an infant mortality rate of 33 per 1,000 births, and the hightest fertility rate in all of the Americas at 4.6 births per woman.
Global Links is working closely with the Guatemalan Ministry of Health and hopes to make a significant improvement in the healthcare facilities available.
“We believe that this has been a beautiful experience since our request was listened to and attended to immediately. We were provided with 98% of what we had hoped f
“[The donation] has been a great benefit to our hospital. It has helped us to provide better care not only to hospitalized patients but also those that come f
