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

An Anthropological, Epidemiological, and Biomedical Approach

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

Editors:
  1. David A. Schwartz

    1. Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, USA

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  • Examines reproductive health and the causes and prevention of pregnancy-related disease and death among indigenous women in Mexico and Central America -- a major public health and humanitarian issue
  • Utilizes a unique approach to understanding and solving the persistent problems with reproductive care and poor obstetrical outcomes among indigenous women in these nations by incorporating the opinions of internationally-known experts in anthropology, public health, epidemiology, midwifery, clinical medicine, and allied fields
  • Includes issues of importance to the reproductive care of indigenous women of Mexico and Central America, such as medical complications of pregnancy, access to obstetrical care, training and use of midwives and traditional birth attendants, unsafe abortion, obstetrical violence, teenage pregnancy, unmet need for family planning, inadequacy of epidemiological surveillance, traditional ethnomedicine, disparities of healthcare between indigenous and non-indigenous women, and others
  • Is a comprehensive resource of 40 chapters with numerous illustrative photographs, figures, maps, and diagrams
  • Assembles a team of expert authors have direct experience with indigenous maternal healthcare in this region -- many are from and work in Mexico and Central America

Part of the book series: Global Maternal and Child Health (GMCH)

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Table of contents (40 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxx
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Reproductive and Maternal Health Among Indigenous Women of Mexico & Central America

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Introduction to Indigenous Women and Their Pregnancies: Misunderstood, Stigmatized, and at Risk

      • David A. Schwartz
      Pages 3-9

    3. Aztec Pregnancy: Archaeological and Cultural Foundations for Motherhood and Childbearing in Ancient Mesoamerica

      • David A. Schwartz
      Pages 11-33

    4. Hypertensive Mothers, Obstetric Hemorrhage, and Infections: Biomedical Aspects of Maternal Death Among Indigenous Women in Mexico and Central America

      • David A. Schwartz
      Pages 35-50

    5. Speaking in Tongues: The Importance of Speaking Indigenous Languages in Maternal Health Care

      • Crystal Sheedy
      Pages 51-61

    6. Maternal Health in Central America: The Role of Medicinal Plants in the Pregnancy-Related Health and Well-Being of Indigenous Women in Central America

      • Tracie D. Locklear, Gail B. Mahady, Joanna Michel, Jillian De Gezelle, Angela I. Calderón, Jordan Alma McLeroy et al.
      Pages 63-111

    7. Gender and Family Planning Among Indigenous Women in Mexico and Central America: A Call to Action

      • Jessica K. Levy, Audrey Goold, April Houston, Diego Rios-Zertuche, Wolfgang Munar
      Pages 113-131

    8. Antenatal Care Among Poor and Indigenous Women in Central America and Mexico: A Cross-Country Study of Access, Utilization, and Barriers

      • Emily Dansereau, Bernardo Hernandez, Ali H. Mokdad
      Pages 133-144

  3. Mexico

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 145-145
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    2. Structural Violence: An Important Factor of Maternal Mortality Among Indigenous Women in Chiapas, Mexico

      • Mounia El Kotni
      Pages 147-167

    3. Maternal Mortality and the Coverage, Availability of Resources, and Access to Women’s Health Services in Three Indigenous Regions of Mexico: Guerrero Mountains, Tarahumara Sierra, and Nayar

      • Sergio Meneses Navarro, Blanca Pelcastre Villafuerte, Marisol Vega Macedo
      Pages 169-188

    4. Reconquista: Obstetric Violence and Underreporting of Obstetric Complications in Yucatán and Quintana Roo

      • Sarah A. Williams
      Pages 189-203

    5. Pregnancy, Birth, and Babies: Motherhood and Modernization in a Yucatec Village

      • Amanda Veile, Karen L. Kramer
      Pages 205-223

    6. Social Support and Social Suffering: Uterine Health and Isihuayo Among Indigenous Women in Mexico

      • Vania Smith-Oka, Maryam Rokhideh
      Pages 225-247

    7. Characteristics of Maternal Death Among Mayan Women in Yucatan, Mexico

      • Elsa María Rodríguez Angulo, María Guadalupe Andueza-Pech, Yolanda Oliva Peña
      Pages 249-270

    8. Contraceptive Counseling and Family Planning Services in the Chiapas Highlands: Challenges and Opportunities for Improving Access for the Indigenous Population

      • Sergio Meneses-Navarro, David Meléndez-Navarro, Alejandro Meza-Palmeros
      Pages 271-300

    9. Problems with Epidemiological Surveillance and Under-Reporting of Maternal Deaths in Yucatan, Mexico: An Analysis of Six Studies

      • Elsa María Rodríguez-Angulo, Jolly Josefina Hoil-Santos, Ricardo Ojeda-Rodríguez
      Pages 301-312

    10. Contemporary Issues in the Training, Practice, and Implementation of Midwifery for Indigenous Women in Mexico

      • Jennifer Foster, Cristina Alonso
      Pages 313-326

    11. Registration of Vital Events by the Civil Registry Office in an Indigenous Context: Implications for the Registration of Maternal Deaths

      • María Graciela Freyermuth Enciso
      Pages 327-348
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Keywords

About this book

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. 

Editors and Affiliations

  • Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, USA

    David A. Schwartz

About the editor

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.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Maternal Death and Pregnancy-Related Morbidity Among Indigenous Women of Mexico and Central America

  • Book Subtitle: An Anthropological, Epidemiological, and Biomedical Approach

  • Editors: David A. Schwartz

  • Series Title: Global Maternal and Child Health

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71538-4

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Medicine, Medicine (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-71537-7Published: 14 June 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-10070-4Published: 25 December 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-71538-4Published: 31 May 2018

  • Series ISSN: 2522-8382

  • Series E-ISSN: 2522-8390

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXX, 790

  • Number of Illustrations: 18 b/w illustrations, 260 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Maternal and Child Health, Reproductive Medicine, Medical Anthropology, Epidemiology, Obstetrics/Perinatology/Midwifery

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