Recognizing the enormous health care needs in the country, we work with the Guatemalan Order of Malta to ensure ongoing medical assistance is delivered to the Order’s network of approximately 250 health and social service institutions. With half of all Guatemalans lacking access to essential medicines, this aid is vital. In addition, we are supplying nutritional support for children.

Snapshot of Guatemala:

Decades of civil war have taken a toll on the country’s health care system and the economy. The country now suffers a high crime rate and more than half of all Guatemalans live in poverty. Critical health issues:

• More than half of all Guatemalan families live in poverty, with over 70% of indigenous families living below the national poverty line. Impoverished families with limited access to health care suffer needlessly from preventable and treatable diseases.
• Nearly 1/3 of pregnant women don't get the nutrition they need to have healthy babies, contributing to high infant mortality rates.
• Chronic malnutrition afflicts nearly half of Guatemala's children under five, increasing their risk of serious developmental delays and diseases.
• The high incidence of violent crime makes trauma and emergency services critical in public hospitals, which often face shortfalls of critical supplies and medications.

Since 1986, through our partnership with the Asociación Guatemalteca de Caballeros de la Orden de Malta (Guatemalan Order of Malta), AmeriCares has delivered nearly half a billion dollars worth of medical aid and humanitarian relief to hospitals, clinics, nutritional centers, medical outreach brigades, children's homes and homes for the elderly. The wide variety of prescription and over-the-counter medicines, diagnostics, medical devices and supplies, and nutritional supplements help healthcare providers better serve their patients.

In late 2012, the largest earthquake since 1976 struck the northern Pacific coast of the country affecting over 1.8 million people. An AmeriCares Global Pre-Positioning Initiative (GPI) grant allowed our in- country partner to provide relief supplies in the first 48 hours, and subsequent funding helped the partner obtain key medical equipment for a regional hospital damaged in the quake.

In 2011, major flooding displaced thousands of people limiting access to basic healthcare and creating a humanitarian crisis throughout the region. AmeriCares responded with emergency shipments and followed up with more deliveries of medical and humanitarian aid.

In 2005, Hurricane Stan's devastating impact on Guatemala prompted AmeriCares to immediately deliver essential medicines, first aid supplies and hygiene products.

AmeriCares also funded a post-emergency rehabilitation project in the hard hit area of Santiago Atitlán. This recovery project entailed vital community-based initiatives in healthcare worker training, stocking shelters with medicines and supplies, monitoring shelter water supplies and building the capacity of local health authorities to help community leaders plan for reconstruction.

Disaster Preparedness:

Supporting local partners in the purchase and pre-positioning of critical emergency supplies to help displaced families within 72 hours of a disaster. Read More »

AmeriCares also donates medical products to qualified U.S. health care professionals who are traveling to Guatemala to provide charitable medical care. Through this program, donated medicines and medical supplies reach impoverished and isolated communities where even basic medical care is inaccessible to the poor or often non-existent. AmeriCares donations cure infections, relieve pain, help patients manage chronic diseases and make life-changing surgeries possible.

Find out more about our Medical Outreach program