Maternal Death and Pregnancy-Related Morbidity Among Indigenous Women of Mexico and Central America
An Anthropological, Epidemiological, and Biomedical Approach
Editors: Schwartz, David A. (Ed.)
Free Preview- 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
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- About this book
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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
- Motherhood and modernization in a Yucatec village
- About the authors
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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-authored textbook 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.
- Table of contents (40 chapters)
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Introduction to Indigenous Women and Their Pregnancies: Misunderstood, Stigmatized, and at Risk
Pages 3-9
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Aztec Pregnancy: Archaeological and Cultural Foundations for Motherhood and Childbearing in Ancient Mesoamerica
Pages 11-33
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Hypertensive Mothers, Obstetric Hemorrhage, and Infections: Biomedical Aspects of Maternal Death Among Indigenous Women in Mexico and Central America
Pages 35-50
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Speaking in Tongues: The Importance of Speaking Indigenous Languages in Maternal Health Care
Pages 51-61
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Maternal Health in Central America: The Role of Medicinal Plants in the Pregnancy-Related Health and Well-Being of Indigenous Women in Central America
Pages 63-111
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Table of contents (40 chapters)
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Bibliographic Information
- 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
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- David A. Schwartz
- Series Title
- Global Maternal and Child Health
- Copyright
- 2018
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing
- Copyright Holder
- Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
- eBook ISBN
- 978-3-319-71538-4
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-319-71538-4
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-3-319-71537-7
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-3-030-10070-4
- Series ISSN
- 2522-8382
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XXX, 790
- Number of Illustrations
- 18 b/w illustrations, 260 illustrations in colour
- Topics