Gender gaps in women's access to health services in Guatemala: A talk between women

In Guatemala, women's access to healthcare is limited because healthcare coverage does not meet the needs of the entire population. According to ECLAC data for 2019, the country has a percentage of public expenditure on health of 1.30% and does not have sufficient infrastructure in medical and hospital services. Access to medicines is restricted due to high costs, in addition, the supply of medicines in hospitals is also a problem. This can become gaps in the right to health for women and girls, but especially for indigenous women and girls and vulnerable groups of people.

That is why, on March 16, in the framework of #8M, UNOPS together with the Rafael Landivar University of Guatemala, conducted the conversation “Gender gaps in women’s access to health services: advances and challenges in Guatemala" to share views, opinions and information related to this issue and to raise perspectives that contribute to closing these gaps.

The activity carried out in hybrid mode, was attended by more than 120 people, with the participation of speakers: Joseline Carías, General Manager of the Central American Health Informatics Network (RECASSA); Patricia Vargas, expert on sexual and reproductive rights; Jeraldine del Cid, political scientist and PhD in Social Sciences Research; Olga Hernandez, expert in health care at the NGO community level

Fundación Esperanza y Caridad [Hope and Prosperity Foundation] (FUNDAESPRO); Dr. Ada Vargas, pediatrician, epidemiologist, and member of the Sub-administration of Health Benefits of the Guatemalan Social Security Institute (IGSS); and Silvia Chouciño, manager of the UNOPS INFRAIGSS Program. The activity was moderated by Silvia Trujillo, sociologist, communicator and gender expert, professor at Rafael Landivar University.

The participating professionals discussed the following topics: Comprehensive health care for women and girls from community living; obstacles and constraints; hospital infrastructure with a gender focus; disability and access to sexual and reproductive health services; women and girls medicines and treatment; and cultural relevance of health services.

Patricia Vargas was emphatic when referring to the fact that systems are made and thought of by men and this must change. For this to change it is necessary to eliminate symbolic violence against women in any space. and encourage participation and training in planning and decision-making positions.

In Guatemala, the UNOPS portfolio of projects has interventions in areas essential to access health services in the social security and public health system: access to medicines, access to specialized medical treatment, design and construction of hospital infrastructure, health technology, etc. The AMEDIGSS and INFRAIGSS projects incorporate specialized technical assistance for mainstreaming the gender approach in the project phases, proclaiming them as success stories in this area at the regional level. The relevance of an integrated gender approach links both projects in generating spaces for discussion where the role of various public stakeholders and civil society are key to promoting integral access to the comprehensive right to health.

Silvia Chouciño shared that UNOPS promotes in Guatemala the design and construction of IGSS hospital infrastructure projects incorporating a gender and cultural relevance approach, taking advantage of construction projects as development and empowerment opportunities for women, and promoting “harassment-free works”, to ensure a culture of non-violence against women.

Ada Vargas commented that the IGSS serves 1.5 million women in the country and that they work in several programs that focus on them. “These are small things that have the potential to change our lives, but if we put women at the center, they are things that change the lives of women,” said Silvia Trujillo, among her reflections.

Jeraldine Vargas called for reflection in strategic terms: “It is increasingly necessary to work in promoting coalitions (...) It is necessary to wear a double hat, in strategic terms it is important to promote coalitions, as a strategic and explicit partnership between civil society actors, academia and the media, to position issues in the agenda and resist anti-rights issues or others that push back human rights; it is necessary to consolidate more strategic networks, for political incidence, to identify partners with decision-making positions to propose what each front can, and thus to position issues from repression and the transmission of truthful information”.

At the end of the talk, Silvia Trujillo reminded us of the importance of the meaning of March 8: “It is a day to promote the elimination of cultural, structural and symbolic violence, #8M is a reminder of what we lack, a day of struggle in all spheres and of resistance to what we lack.”