Maternal Death and Pregnancy-Related Morbidity Among Indigenous Women of Mexico and Central America

This ambitious sourcebook surveys both the traditional basis for and the present state of indigenous women-s reproductive health in Mexico and Central America. Noted practitioners, specialists, and researchers take an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the multiple barriers for access and care to indigenous women that had been complicated by longstanding gender inequities, poverty, stigmatization, lack of education, war, obstetrical violence, and differences in language and customs, all of which contribute to unnecessary maternal morbidity and mortality. Emphasis is placed on indigenous cultures and folkways-from traditional midwives and birth attendants to indigenous botanical medication and traditional healing and spiritual practices-and how they may effectively coexist with modern biomedical care. Throughout these chapters, the main theme is clear: the rights of indigenous women to culturally respective reproductive health care and a successful pregnancy leading to the birth of healthy children.
A sampling of the topics: Motherhood and modernization in a Yucatec village
Maternal morbidity and mortality in Honduran Miskito communities
Solitary birth and maternal mortality among the Rarámuri of Northern Mexico Maternal morbidity and mortality in the rural Trifino region of Guatemala The traditional Ngäbe-Buglé midwives of Panama Characterizations of maternal death among Mayan women in Yucatan, Mexico Unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and unmet need in Guatemala
Maternal Death and Pregnancy-Related Morbidity Among Indigenous Women of Mexico and Central America is designed for anthropologists and other social scientists, physicians, nurses and midwives, public health specialists, epidemiologists, global health workers, international aid organizations and NGOs, governmental agencies, administrators, policy-makers, and others involved in the planning and implementation of maternal and reproductive health care of indigenous women in Mexico and Central America, and possibly other geographical areas.

David Schwartz, MD, MS Hyg, FCAP, has an educational background in anthropology, medicine, public health, and epidemiology. He specializes in obstetrical and perinatal pathology and medical epidemiology, and has a professional interest in reproductive health, maternal disease, and maternal death in both resource-rich and resource-poor countries. Dr. Schwartz has organized and directed large national and international investigations of women's health, obstetrical disease, and perinatal pathology and epidemiology for many government agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and several foreign governments, and has consulted and taught in these specialties in resource-poor nations. He has conducted extensive research in obstetrical pathology, and has been the recipient of grants from the NIH, CDC, and the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. He has a new multi-authoredtextbook regarding maternal morbidity and mortality in developing nations that was published in October 2015, and was previously a co-editor of an award-winning 2-volume medical textbook on infectious and tropical diseases. He has authored 119 peer-reviewed articles as well as 47 chapters in his specialty areas in the peer-reviewed medical literature. Dr. Schwartz is an experienced editor, currently serving on the Editorial Boards of three major international journals, and as an associate editor for one of them. He has previously taught at several universities, and is currently clinical professor of Pathology at the Georgia Regents University-Medical College of Georgia. He is also a member of the Directors Council of the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he additionally serves on the Scholarly Activities Committee.

Precolumbian Pregnancy - Archaeological & Cultural Foundations for Motherhood & Childbearing in Ancient Mesoamerica.- Maternal death in Ancient Mesoamerica - the Archaeological Record.- Curse of Cure? The phenomenon of Obeah Pregnancy among Belizean Maya.- Managing Mortality: On-the-Ground Practices of Traditional Birth Attendants in Southern Belize.-The Role of Botanicals and Plant-based Diet in Maternal Health and Wellbeing of Indigenous Women in Mesoamerica.- Contemporary Issues in the training, practice and Implementation of midwifery for indigenous women in Mexico.- Established Models of Midwifery Care and Education for Indigenous Women in Mexico: Luna Maya, CASA, and San Juan Chamula Birth Centers.- Reconquista: Obstetric Violence and the Under-reporting of Labor Complications and Interventions in Yucatan and Quintana Roo.- Contextualizing poor maternal health outcomes: local perceptions of maternal mortality in Honduran Miskito communities.- Maternal morbidity and mortality in rural South Western Guatemala: Analysis of the problems, strategic successes and failures.- What has happened with intercultural approaches in maternal health? The case of the health system response to indigenous populations in Chiapas 1994-2015.- Representations and social practices regarding contraception between indigenous populations in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Continuity, discontinuity and recent change.- Characteristics of maternal death among Mayan women in the Yucatan, Mexico.- Problems with epidemiological surveillance and under-reporting of maternal deaths in Yucatan.- Inclusion on traditional midwives in biomedical health care programs in Guatemala and Mexico: Challenges and opportunities.- Medicalization through the lens of childbirth on a Guatemalan plantation.- Pregnancy, Birth and Babies: Motherhood and Modernization in a Yucatec Village.- Social support and social suffering: uterine health among indigenous women in Mexico.- Misconceived Mortality: Solitary birth and maternal mortality among the Rarámuri of Northern Mexico.- Supply, demand, and unmet need: Women and family planning in Central America.- Community-Based participatory research and interventions among the Ngäbe-Buglé of Panama.- Clinicians working alongside medicinal doctors and lay midwives in Panama.- Structural violence as a cause of maternal mortality and morbidity among indigenous women in Chiapas, Mexico.- Changing definitions of 'an obstetric emergency': a tale of two countries.- Guatemala unsafe abortion practices.- HIV/AIDS topic in Central America Q'eqchi' Maya pregnancy and birth practices, the loss of female healers and midwives in the Maya community, and the need for revitalizing these healing traditions to provide healthcare to remote indigenous communities in Belize and other parts of Central America.- The emerging role of the Comadrona, Traditional birth attendant, as a broker between ancient cultural beliefs and efforts to improve maternal care in the Mayan highlands.- Cultural beliefs and acceptability of family planning among indigenous women in the Mayan highlands of Guatemala.- Constructions of motherhood: Problematizing development discourses, transnational advocacy and indigeneity in Guatemala.- Poverty, local perceptions, and access to services: Understanding obstetric choice in a Maya Kaqchikel community in Guatemala.- Maternal health in Guatemala from a Mayan-indigenous perspective.- Disparity in access to pregnancy-related care and health outcomes between indigenous and non-indigenous women in Guatemala.- Awaiting titles, mortality of indigenous mothers in Mexico.- A Quiet Inquisition.- Abortion prohibition in Nicaragua and El Salvador.