Mayan project helps families get healthier, together
New project uses a whole-of-community approach that begins with the village’s children.
07 October 2016 Gwendolyn Carleton
The Mayan village of Xocén lies southwest of Cancun, on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. Once, its 2,600 residents raised maize, beans, squash and other crops using milpa, a traditional crop-rotation system. Today, many commute to the sparkling stretch of coastline called the Riviera Maya to work in the tourist industry.
“The population has become heavier, and diabetes has become a real problem,” says Christian Rasmussen, a Danish anthropologist who has lived and worked with Mayans in the Yucatán for 40 years. “And because of junk food, some are undernourished.”
Working with Centro de Investigacion Cientifica de Yucantan (CICY), a Yucatán research institute, Christian crafted a proposal to reduce obesity using a whole-of-community approach. The project became Utsil Kuxtal – Sanamente Maya (Healthy Mayan People), WDF15-952.
The project began with an effort to weigh and measure all of the village’s children. Fully 98% of children participated, and 32% were found to be overweight or obese. Next, project staff identified where they lived – mapping the homes and plots of 53 obese families consisting of 267 people.
Finally, they visited each family, where they gathered socio-economic information, registered a week’s food consumption, and took anthropometric measures and blood samples.
The project was welcomed, Christian says. The healthcare personnel came from the popular local health clinic, and the project’s design respected Mayan values and traditions.
“We focus on the family, not the individual, because the way people live and eat together is decisive,” Christian says adding. “And there are practical advantages, as well - often, it’s the children who are the quickest to understand.”
The findings, however, were worrisome. Obesity rates were extremely high, especially among the women. And more than half of the adults in the families showed signs of insulin resistance.
Collaboration and personal contact
Each family will receive a binder containing a medical and nutritional report, information on nutrition and recipes, and a follow-up visit to check on their progress, Christian says.
“I’m proud of the health exams and follow-up. We’ve established a collaboration with these families, and I’m really happy about that. Personal contact is the way forward,” he says.
The project is working to reach the rest of the community as well. Other activities include clearing a small plot of land for re-establishing traditional plants, building a meeting hall and sponsoring several well-attended awareness-raising events.
The inexpensive intervention could prove a model for other villages in the Yucatán, where diabetes, hypertension and obesity are well above Mexico’s national average, Christian says.
“We are facing an enormous wave of industrialised food and declining exercise. But if you can move one small stone, if you can make even a few people more aware, it can spread - and make a lasting difference.”