When Guatemala halted all flights from the United States and Canada, Partner for Surgery had to suspend surgical missions for the foreseeable future. In order to ensure the health and well being of the children and families who were waiting, Partner for Surgery’s Guatemalan Health Promoters and staff have stepped up to make sure the children in the Infant Nutrition Program remain healthy as they wait for their surgeries. More than 150 children are depending on our support.
COVID-19 is affecting everyone, everywhere. This includes our partners in Guatemala. The Guatemalan government has the country completely locked down. Travel is limited to grocery shopping only in Guatemala City. Police checkpoints are in force, restricting travel between towns. The buses are idle as all public transportation has been prohibited. With the country locked down PFS Guatemala has to improvise a plan to make sure the babies on the infant nutrition program will not go hungry. We’re following the situation closely to ensure there will be no lapses in this vital program.
On a more positive note, to date in 2020, two rural medical mission teams have identified 471 patients needing surgery and four surgical teams have carried out 219 procedures.
Please continue your donations. They will help us to keep our Cleft Nutrition Program running, as well as to continue to serve the rural Guatemalan communities as best we can until our teams can return.
To read an update from Partner for Surgery President Todd Peterson, please click here.
