Nutrition, Family Planning, and Health Promotion: The Guatemalan Program of Primary Health Care

ABSTRACT: This paper describes SINAPS, a program of primary health care in Guatemala, planned by the Ministry of Public Health (MOH), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP). The objective was to design, implement, and evaluate a program of primary health care in Guatemala based on service delivery by non-professional personnel. These personnel consist of Auxiliary Nurses (AN), Rural Health Technicians (RHT), Rural Health Promoters (RHP), and Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA). SINAPS activities are focused on immunizations, food supplementation, oral rehydration of children suffering from dehydration, family planning, perinatal surveillance, and promotion of health and environmental sanitation, with the participation of the community. This limited set of interventions is aimed at controlling the most important causes of death and disability in mothers and children in a cost-effective way.