Guatemala has only 9 doctors for every 1000 inhabitants. There are severe water shortages, and any water that is available is often polluted and contaminated with all types of diseases. In order to fight TB, inhabitants need clean water and clean sanitary facilities.
Our impact in 2025
Guatemala
Since
1993
Local representative
Dr Maria Eugenia Alquijay Pirir
Diseases treated
People diagnosed during the year
Tuberculosis
1 800
MDR-TB
49
Leishmaniasis
298
People with illnesses who receive socioeconomic support
Tuberculosis
413
MDR-TB
9
Leishmaniasis
1
- Ministry of Public Health,
- University of San Carlos, local municipalities,
- Tuberculosis and leishmaniasis control programmes.
“There are many technological tools available today to help us with our work, and we will certainly need to rely on them in the future! One example is the ‘Open Data Kit’ app for patient screening.”
Heat treatment in the fight against leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease that occurs primarily in tropical regions, spread by a tiny sand fly. The most common form, cutaneous leishmaniasis, causes chronic sores at the site of the bite, as well as deformities. Damien Foundation is working in Bolivia, Guatemala and Nicaragua to fight leishmaniasis. It’s not an easy task, as many of the affected families live in remote, inaccessible areas.
In Guatemala, the traditional treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis involves administering injections of antimony. Not only is this treatment very painful, it also has highly toxic side effects for the heart, liver and kidneys.
An alternative method recommended by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) is thermotherapy: a heat treatment in which the skin is heated in a very localised area, burning out the disease. As there was only one piece of thermotherapy equipment available in Guatemala, Damien Foundation has invested in additional equipment. The results are very positive: after a single course of treatment, 80.7 per cent of patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis were cured, without experiencing side effects. Another advantage is that the device is very easy to charge and transport to remote areas.
Damien Foundation is continuing to invest in projects to enable thermotherapy treatment in as many regions as possible.