Reproductive and Maternal Health in Guatemala

According to the World Health Organization:
The person best equipped to provide community-based, technologically appropriate and cost—effective care to women during their reproductive lives is the person with midwifery skills who lives in the community. Midwives understand women’s concerns and preoccupations. They accompany women through their reproductive lifespan, not only providing assistance at births, but during adolescence, pregnancy and delivery and postpartum. Yet, instead of empowering and supporting traditional midwives by providing comprehensive and culturally appropriate training, essential equipment, and practical support, Guatemalan health officials seek to exclude midwives from the formal health system in an attempt to centralize medical services within hospitals.

As a result, traditional midwives find their practices limited and their role in providing women’s health care threatened. Close to half of the maternal deaths in Guatemala occur in the hospital under medical management. Hemorrhage and infection are the two major causes of maternal death in both out-of-hospital and hospital settings. Midwifery training in Guatemala was largely focused on the identification of risk factors and transfer of patients into the hospital system.

This model ignores the reality that the majority of births are uncomplicated and can therefore safely take place outside the hospital setting. It also fails to address the cultural, logistical, and economic barriers that may interfere with transfers should a hospital birth become necessary. The prevailing approach was notably weak in regard to preventive care, early detection of complications, treatment of illness, and emergency first-aid. Additionally, most traditional midwives lack basic equipment, such as gloves and fetoscopes, needed to provide prenatal care. Supporting traditional midwives by providing basic equipment, demonstrating sterilization of instruments and teaching proactive techniques to control postpartum hemorrhage are strategies that can directly impact perinatal outcomes in Guatemala.

93% of Guatemala’s indigenous population are poor.

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62% of Guatemalan women do not use a modern contraceptive method.

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42% of the Guatemalan population does not have access to regular health care.

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The majority of Guatemalan women give birth at home, with midwives attending 90% of all births in rural areas.

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Midwives for Midwives addresses the following deficiencies.

When all women’s healthcare honors the innate intelligence of nature and is sustained through circles of collective wisdom, individuals WILL BE empowered and the world transformed.

“Prescribe a midwife and save the lives of pregnant women and their babies”
– Professor Gamal I Serour, President of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

The MFM Solution