The Safe Motherhood Project is proud to be a member-project of Rose Charities Canada.
Guatemala has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, 30 to 60 times higher than in Canada. Hemorrhage, eclampsia and infection are the major causes of death of women during childbirth. Seventy per cent of women in rural Guatemala give birth at home under the care of a traditional birth attendant, or “comadrona,” who in most cases has no formal education or training. Often the closest hospital is several hours away.
Since 2003, a group of Canadian volunteers and a team of Guatemalan midwives have travelled annually to rural Guatemala to teach comadronas emergency birthing skills. The course runs for four five-hour days. At the end of the four days, each comadrona who completes the course receives a kit of birthing supplies. The course has been well received. Each year there has been increasing enrollment and more and more communities are requesting the course.
You can read a more detailed history of the project at our history page, and you can also read a detailed outline of what we teach.
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The Safe Motherhood Project, Guatemala 2026
On March 6, 2026, Canadian teammates, Annette Borkent, Ruth Brighouse, and Birte Paschen, set off for Guatemala for the 24th year of the Safe Motherhood Project supported by Rose Charities Canada. This year,... Read More
Welcoming our new Guatemalan teammates
We are delighted to welcome these well-trained midwives to our team. Read More
The Safe Motherhood Project, Guatemala 2025
What a wonderful time we had with the Safe Motherhood Project this year from March 4 to March 18, 2025. Thanks to our team member and professional midwife from the UK, Maryla Cross,... Read More
2024 – Our 22nd year!
We had another amazing trip to Guatemala in March 2024, teaching traditional midwives (comadronas) important new skills in prenatal, birthing, and postnatal care. Once again, we spent our time in Chisec in the... Read More
2023 – Return to Guatemala
After a 2-year pause in activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to resume teaching Mayan comadronas this past March, 2023. We spent our time in the municipality of Chisec in... Read More
The Journey Continues!
We’ve come back from Guatemala after another couple of weeks filled with good experiences. Our first week, we trained 15 comadronas (traditional midwives) in Santiago Atitlán, on the edge of a large lake,... Read More