Maya Health Alliance

What Maya Health Alliance does

Maya Health Alliance, operating as Wuqu' Kawoq, is a US-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 20-8741625) founded in 2007 and headquartered operationally in Tecpán, Chimaltenango, Guatemala. It delivers community-based primary care, maternal and infant health, women's health (including cervical cancer prevention), family-centered nutrition, and chronic disease management to indigenous Maya populations in rural Guatemala's Central Highlands. Its core delivery model rests on Maya Community Health Workers and a network of 40+ partner traditional midwives serving 50+ rural communities; the Mobile Maternal Health Program, launched in 2017, combines a co-designed checklist smartphone application for midwives with care navigation that accompanies mothers into hospitals.

Technology is supporting rather than central: smartphone applications for midwives and mothers (Baby Mobile), telemedicine infrastructure, Electronic Health Records, a Mayan-language COVID-19 hotline (Conectados GuateVida), and pilot wearable sensors for early detection of infant developmental delays in partnership with Emory University. Research is conducted through the Center for Indigenous Health Research (CISI), which investigates malnutrition, non-communicable diseases, early childhood development, family planning, and midwifery.

The organization is funded entirely through charitable contributions - individual donations (credit card, PayPal, stocks, cryptocurrency, Donor Advised Funds), foundation and institutional grants, and corporate/nonprofit partnerships (United Way, Harvard Medical School, Stanford Digital Medic, UCSF, PAHO/OPS). All healthcare services are provided at no cost to patients; there is no fee-for-service revenue. In 2023 it raised a $3,000,000 funding round; annual reach is 12,700+ patients served, 18,600 home visits, 11,100+ nutrition visits, and 3,600+ women's health visits.

Name

Maya Health Alliance

Legal name

Maya Health Alliance (Wuqu' Kawoq)

Website

https://wuqukawoq.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Maya Health Alliance (Wuqu' Kawoq) is a US-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2007 that delivers community-based primary, maternal, women's, nutrition, and chronic disease care to indigenous Maya populations in rural Guatemala through community health workers, partner midwives, telemedicine, and smartphone applications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Tecpan

HQ country

Mexico

HQ region

Latin America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Accepts donations from individuals via credit card, PayPal, stocks, cryptocurrency, and Donor Advised Funds. Website provides multiple giving options for supporters.
2. Foundation and Institutional Grants: Funding from foundations and institutional donors to support program operations and expansion.
3. Corporate and Nonprofit Partnerships: Support from nonprofit partners and organizations such as United Way for emergency food supplies and COVID-19 response efforts.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Maya Health Alliance delivers community-based primary care, maternal and infant health, women's health, chronic disease management, and family-centered nutrition programs to indigenous Maya populations in rural Guatemala. Services are provided at community health clinics, through home visits, via telemedicine, and through partnerships with traditional midwives. Programs are delivered in multiple Mayan languages by Maya Community Health Workers and supplemented by research collaborations and care navigation support.

Product overview

Maya Health Alliance | Wuqu' Kawoq operates as a healthcare delivery organization providing comprehensive, community-based health services in rural Guatemala. The organization offers multiple integrated programs: the Mobile Maternal Health Program with a smartphone-based checklist app for traditional midwives; Women's Health Program focusing on cervical cancer and reproductive health; Family-Centered Nutrition Program providing food supplies and nutrition guidance; Community Health Clinics delivering primary and complex care; and a Chronic Disease Program for diabetes and other conditions. The Center for Indigenous Health Research (CISI) conducts scientific investigations in areas including malnutrition, non-communicable diseases, and early childhood development. Supporting services include Care Navigation by indigenous Maya navigators and the Conectados GuateVida COVID-19 hotline. Programs operate in Mayan languages to address cultural and linguistic barriers to healthcare access.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Mobile Maternal Health Program A community-based maternal health program co-designed with traditional midwives, featuring a smartphone checklist application for monitoring pregnancies and detecting high-risk complications. When hospital care is needed, indigenous Maya care navigators accompany mothers throughout, providing coordination, translation, and advocacy.
• Women's Health Program Women's health services including cervical cancer screening and treatment, with a focus on empowering women to understand their bodies and make life-changing health decisions.
• Family-Centered Nutrition Program
• Community Health Clinics
• COVID-19 Response Program
• Chronic Disease Program
• Center for Indigenous Health Research (CISI)
• Conectados GuateVida
• Care Navigation
• Baby Mobile

Quantifiable outcome

• 12,700+ patients served annually
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of San Carlos (Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWuqu' Kawoq purchased PPE to enable 320 medical students to return to work at remote government health centers that had been without doctors for 6 weeks during COVID-19. Also provides Kaqchikel translation for the university medical hotline.
• University of CincinnaticoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTeam of physicians and medical/public health students visit quarterly plus provide telemedicine consultations to serve patients in rural Guatemala.
• University of EmorycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on Baby Mobile project studying impact of smartphone app for helping new mothers support child development in rural Guatemala.
• Stanford Center for Health Education / Digital MediccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on COVID-19 vaccine educational videos explaining how vaccines work and addressing common myths and misinformation.
• UCSF (University of California, San Francisco)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Digital Medic and Wuqu' Kawoq teams on COVID-19 vaccine messaging research project in Guatemala.
• Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/OPS)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCOVID-19 prevention videos based on PAHO guidelines for non-pharmacological public health measures in vulnerable groups.
• Miracles in ActionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on COVID-19 educational video content creation.
• MAIAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on COVID-19 vaccine informative videos in Mayan languages.
• Partners in AsiaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupport for educational radio spots and Living with COVID-19 radio show covering coronavirus and topics such as diabetes, women's rights, family planning, and nutrition in multiple Mayan languages.
• United WaycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEmergency food supplies for 1,000+ families with support from United Way and other partners during COVID-19 response.
• Harvard Medical SchoolcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPeter Rohloff, co-founder, is on faculty at Harvard Medical School. Research collaboration on indigenous language support and global health delivery.
• INCAP (Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational organization involved in regional nutrition and health research partnerships.
• Traditional MidwivescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner40 partner midwives covering 800 births annually. Midwives co-designed the smartphone app for pregnancy monitoring. They provide community-based care with support from Wuqu' Kawoq.

Scale indicators18 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• AMREF Health Africa: Large African health NGO operating community health worker programs across multiple countries. Comparable on training/employing community health workers for maternal and child health, but operates at much larger geographic and budget scale.
• Partners In Health: Global health equity nonprofit delivering comprehensive care in resource-limited settings. Directly comparable model: community-based primary care, maternal/child health, and chronic disease programs paired with university research partnerships (Harvard, etc.).
• Project HOPE: Global health and humanitarian nonprofit with maternal/child health programs in low- and middle-income countries. Comparable in nonprofit healthcare delivery and grant-funded operating model, though much larger and more diversified.

Direct peers

• Last Mile Health: Community health worker-led healthcare delivery model serving rural populations in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and other countries. Closely comparable on the core mechanism of training and deploying community health workers to reach underserved indigenous/rural populations.
• Muso: Global health nonprofit operating community health worker programs in Mali. Highly comparable mission (rapid universal healthcare access via community health workers) and similar focus on maternal/child health outcomes in low-resource settings.
• Possible Health (Nyaya Health): Nonprofit delivering community-based healthcare in rural Nepal. Comparable model: integrated maternal, child, and chronic disease care delivered through community health workers with telemedicine support and university research partnerships.
• Curamericas Global: Maternal and child health nonprofit focused on indigenous and rural communities in Latin America (Guatemala, Bolivia, Liberia, Kenya). Highly comparable on MNCH outcomes, CBIO+ community methodology, and direct service to Maya populations.
• Health Equity International (St. Boniface Haiti Foundation): Nonprofit providing maternal/child health and primary care in Haiti with a similar integrated community-health-worker plus facility-based model. Comparable scale and operating model to Wuqu' Kawoq in Guatemala.

Emerging players

• Medic Mobile (now Medic): Nonprofit building open-source digital health tools (Community Health Toolkit) for frontline health workers. Comparable on the smartphone-based decision-support application built for community health workers and midwives in low-resource settings.

Others

• Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI): Global health organization partnering with governments to expand access to quality health services. Adjacent in operating-model (NGO with government partnerships) and serves as a potential scaling partner rather than a direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/annekraemerdiaz
• Xx.com/wuqukawoq

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Maya Health Alliance