Ray Suarez of PBS, travels to Peru to investigate how health officials, obstetricians, nurses and activists are making better use of existing resources and linking pregnant women to those resources—all in hopes of seeing a reduction in maternal deaths. In this article and video, Suarez reports on a system of maternity homes, homes where pregnant women from remote areas can stay in the final stages of their pregnancies in order to be closer to emergency obstetric care, in the event of an emergency.
“…The NewsHour team headed out to the remote rural town of Vilcashuaman, high in the Andes mountains, to see the new approach at work. We visited a Casa Materna, a mother’s house, where three women from communities far away waited to deliver. In a nurse’s office was a felt bullseye map, with the name and due date of all the women in the region known to be pregnant, along with the approximate distances and travel times to their homes…
…Once ready to deliver, a woman can choose a conventional Western delivery table with an elevated bed and leg stirrups, and as part of the new approach traditional birthing chairs are also available. Women who use the chairs do not have to completely undress, very important in a culture in which modesty is prized…”
Read the full story, In Peru: Life for the Life-Givers—and watch the video.
Maternal Mortality Daily 