Ana Nohemí Chel Gómez
Empowering a New Generation with RH Options
Ana Gómez grew up in Pulay, a small rural village of Nebaj, Quiché, in the northern part of Guatemala. There, Ana witnessed the suffering caused by lack of reproductive health supplies. In Quiché, 48 women died during childbirth in 2013 alone.
Working out of a small office next to Nebaj’s medical clinic and school, Ana takes advantage of opportunities to educate adolescents about their reproductive health and their options. She believes that providing reproductive health information is critical to shaping the future of Quiché’s young population, but she finds that it is frequently difficult to ensure access to the products her community needs.
This results in a complete loss of faith and trust
Too often she educates about methods of contraception and product options, only to find that those choices are not available in Quiché. “This results in a complete loss of faith and trust,” she says. That is why Ana, together with the Women’s Network, works with Guatemala’s Ministry of Health to advocate for a better system to bring RH medicines and supplies to remote areas like Nebaj. They are working towards a future where the people in Nebaj have the same range of choices as those in Guatemala City.
The ability of women and men to have a range of contraceptive and other RH options from which to choose. An individual’s need for contraception evolves throughout his or her life cycle and is a function of both psychosocial and physiological factors. The ability to access the “right” contraceptive method increases the likelihood that one’s RH needs will be met; a mismatch, research shows, is more likely to lead to dissatisfaction, lower continuation rates, and often method failure.
Who’s Holding up Our Pillars?
This story is part of “Who’s Holding up Our Pillars?”, a Coalition effort to invite our heroes working in supply chains to tell their stories. Read their stories and see who they contribute to our vital, everyday work.
