Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, 310 Trent Dr, Durham, NC, 27710, USA.
BMC Womens Health. 2020 Mar 21;20(1):58. doi: 10.1186/s12905-020-00925-7.
Despite Guatemala's large indigenous population, indigenous health is often neglected in reported health data and interventions. Although this data is limited in scope, it shows that indigenous people have poorer health outcomes. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are now a growing threat in Guatemala and pose great risk to the wellbeing of its indigenous population.
This qualitative pilot study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of STIs through semi-structured interviews among a previously unstudied population of indigenous Maya women (n = 35, ages 18-50) in the six municipalities of Santa Cruz La Laguna, Guatemala.
Four key themes were identified: 1) indigenous Maya women have limited factual knowledge about sex and STIs; 2) widespread partner infidelity minimizes women's control over preventing STI contraction; 3) close-knit communities and the resulting heightened fear of gossip prevents communication and hinders care seeking; and 4) lack of quality medical care and inaccessibility of biomedical healthcare systems pose barriers to seeking care for potential STIs.
To address these findings, we suggest methods to improve sexual education, combat male infidelity, promote condom use, and improve health services to reduce the incidence of STIs in Maya Guatemala.
尽管危地马拉拥有庞大的原住民人口，但原住民健康在报告的健康数据和干预措施中经常被忽视。尽管这些数据的范围有限，但它表明原住民的健康状况较差。性传播感染（STI）现在是危地马拉日益严重的威胁，对其原住民的健康构成了巨大风险。
本定性试点研究通过对危地马拉圣克鲁斯拉腊古纳 6 个市的 35 名年龄在 18-50 岁之间的未受过研究的原住民玛雅妇女进行半结构化访谈，评估了 STIs 的知识、态度和信念。
确定了四个关键主题：1）原住民玛雅妇女对性和 STIs 的了解有限；2）普遍存在的伴侣不忠使妇女对预防 STI 传播的控制最小化；3）紧密的社区和由此产生的对八卦的高度恐惧阻碍了沟通和寻求护理；4）缺乏高质量的医疗保健和生物医学保健系统的可及性对潜在 STI 的护理寻求构成障碍。
为了解决这些发现，我们建议采取一些方法来改善性教育、打击男性不忠、促进避孕套的使用，并改善卫生服务，以减少危地马拉玛雅人的 STI 发病率。
