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Background: Indigenous Maya women in the rural highlands of Guatemala have traditionally faced constraints to decision-making and participation in community affairs. Anecdotal experiences from previous Curamericas Global projects in Guatemala and Liberia have suggested that interventions using the CBIO+ Approach (which consists of implementing together the Census-Based, Impact-Oriented Approach, the Care Group Approach, and Community Birthing Centers), can be empowering and can facilitate improvements in maternal and child health. This paper, the eighth in a series of 10 papers examining the effectiveness of CBIO+ in improving the health and well-being of mothers and children in an isolated mountainous rural area of the Department of Huehuetenango, explores changes in women's empowerment among mothers of young children associated with the Curamericas/Guatemala Maternal and Child Health Project, 2011–2015. Methods: Knowledge, practice, and coverage (KPC) surveys and focus group discussions (FGDs) were used to explore six indicators of women's empowerment focusing on participation in health-related decision-making and participation in community meetings. KPC surveys were conducted at baseline (January 2012) and endline (June 2015) using standard stratified cluster sampling. Seventeen FGDs (9 with women, 3 with men, 2 with mothers-in-law, and 3 with health committees), approximately 120 people in all, were conducted to obtain opinions about changes in empowerment and to identify and assess qualitative factors that facilitate and/or impede women's empowerment. Results: The KPC surveys revealed statistically significant increases in women's active participation in community meetings. Women also reported statistically significant increases in rates of participation in health-related decision-making. Further, the findings show a dose-response effect for two of the six empowerment indicators. The qualitative findings from FGDs show that the Project accelerated progress in increasing women's empowerment though women still face major barriers in accessing needed health care services for themselves and their children. Conclusion: The Project achieved some notable improvements in women's decision-making autonomy and participation in community activities. These improvements often translated into making decisions to practice recommended health behaviors. Traditional cultural norms and the barriers to accessing needed health services are not easily overcome, even when empowerment strategies are effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Curamericas/Guatemala Maternal and Child Health Project, 2011–2015, implemented the Census-Based, Impact-Oriented Approach, the Care Group Approach, and the Community Birthing Center Approach. Together, this expanded set of approaches is known as CBIO+. This is the fifth of 10 papers in our supplement describing the Project and the effectiveness of the CBIO+ Approach. This paper assesses causes, levels, and risk factors for mortality along with changes in mortality. Methods: The Project maintained Vital Events Registers and conducted verbal autopsies for all deaths of women of reproductive age and under-5 children. Mortality rates and causes of death were derived from these data. To increase the robustness of our findings, we also indirectly estimated mortality decline using the Lives Saved Tool (LiST). Findings: The leading causes of maternal and under-5 mortality were postpartum hemorrhage and pneumonia, respectively. Home births were associated with an eight-fold increased risk of both maternal (p = 0.01) and neonatal (p = 0.00) mortality. The analysis of vital events data indicated that maternal mortality declined from 632 deaths per 100,000 live births in Years 1 and 2 to 257 deaths per 100,000 live birth in Years 3 and 4, a decline of 59.1%. The vital events data revealed no observable decline in neonatal or under-5 mortality. However, the 12–59-month mortality rate declined from 9 deaths per 1000 live births in the first three years of the Project to 2 deaths per 1000 live births in the final year. The LiST model estimated a net decline of 12, 5, and 22% for maternal, neonatal and under-5 mortality, respectively. Conclusion: The baseline maternal mortality ratio is one of the highest in the Western hemisphere. There is strong evidence of a decline in maternal mortality in the Project Area. The evidence of a decline in neonatal and under-5 mortality is less robust. Childhood pneumonia and neonatal conditions were the leading causes of under-5 mortality. Expanding access to evidence-based community-based interventions for (1) prevention of postpartum hemorrhage, (2) home-based neonatal care, and (3) management of childhood pneumonia could help further reduce mortality in the Project Area and in similar areas of Guatemala and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This is the fourth paper in our supplement on improving the health and well-being of rural indigenous Maya mothers and children in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, where the prevalence of stunting is the highest in Latin America and among the highest in the world. Reducing childhood undernutrition was one of the objectives of the Maternal and Child Health Project, 2011–2015, implemented by Curamericas/Guatemala. The implementation research portion of the Project attempted to determine if there were greater improvements in childhood nutritional status in the Project Area than in comparison areas and whether or not a dose–response effect was present in terms of a greater improvement in the Project Area with a longer duration of interventions. Methods: The Project provided nutrition-related messages to mothers of young children, cooking sessions using locally available nutritious foods, a lipid-based nutrient supplement (Nutributter®) for a short period of time (4 months), anti-helminthic medication, and repeated growth monitoring and nutrition counseling. Measures of height and weight for calculating the prevalence of underweight, stunting, and wasting in under-2 children were analyzed and compared with the anthropometric data for children in the rural areas of the Northwestern Region and in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Results: The prevalence of stunting declined in Area A from 74.5% in September 2012 to 39.5% in June 2015. Area A comprised approximately one-half of the Project Area and was the geographic area with the greatest intensity and duration of nutrition-related Project interventions. Minimal improvements in stunting were observed in the Northwestern Region, which served as a comparison area. Improvements in multiple output and outcome indicators associated with nutritional status were also observed in Areas A and B: infant and young child feeding practices, routine growth monitoring and counseling, and household practices for the prevention and treatment of diarrhea. Conclusion: The Project Area in which Curamericas/Guatemala implemented the CBIO+ Approach experienced a reduction in the prevalence of stunting and other measures of undernutrition in under-2 children. Given the burden of undernutrition in Guatemala and other parts of the world, this approach merits broader application and further evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]