Ariadna Capasso is senior technical advisor for the FCI Program of Management Sciences for Health (MSH). This post originally appeared on the MSH Health Impact Blog.
Over the past year, Tijuana, Mexico, has seen an influx of U.S.-bound Haitian migrants fleeing communities left in disrepair from the 2010 earthquake and further devastated by Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. These migrants often begin their journey in Latin America and trek through multiple countries and hostile terrain only to find they cannot enter the U.S. once at the border. Among the stalled Haitian migrants living in makeshift shelters as they contemplate their next steps, pregnant women face another uncertainty: whether they or their baby will languish during pregnancy and childbirth without access to skilled maternal and newborn health care. Recognizing this health crisis, a group of midwives, Parteras Fronterizas (Borderland Midwives in English), arrived on the scene to provide antenatal and safe childbirth care, with help from women who translated from Spanish or English to Haitian Creole.
Parteras Fronterizas embodies the reason we celebrate the International Day of the Midwife–to honor the many midwives around the world who work on the frontlines to deliver high-quality, respectful care to women and newborns during pregnancy and childbirth. At the Third Regional Forum of the Mexican Midwifery Association in late April 2017, traditional and professional midwives, medical doctors, health managers, doulas and midwifery students gathered together to share midwifery practices and strategies for advancing the midwifery profession in Mexico.
Photo credit: Simon Chambers/PWRDF
Continue reading “From fronteras to frontlines, Mexican midwives saving lives”
