Translate page with Google

Story Publication logo June 24, 2010

Maternal Health in Mexico: A perilous journey

Country:

Media file: 1056.jpg
English

An infant born in the state of Chiapas as three times as likely to die as the rate for Mexico as a...

SECTIONS

OUTSIDE the main hospital in San Cristóbal de las Casas, women in traditional multicoloured garb queue up to see a doctor. Many are pregnant or carry infants on their backs. One expectant mother says she fears there will not be a bed for her when she enters labour—all too common in the overcrowded hospital. Tales of deaths from hypertension, haemorrhage or infection during or after giving birth are common in the second city of the state of Chiapas. In a nearby village, one doctor recalls a woman whose journey took so long that she died on the street outside his clinic.

Maternal mortality in Mexico has fallen by 36% since 1990, but it is still higher than in other Latin American countries. The problem is far worse among Indians and in the poorer south. Mothers in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero states die in childbirth 70% more often than the national average, and indigenous women are three times less likely to survive birth than non-indigenous women. Most of these deaths are preventable.

One of the first obstacles for a pregnant woman is transport. To reach a doctor you need to get a car, a driver, petrol, and someone to take care of the other children. The roads to the nearest town hospital are often slow and dangerous. As a result, many women—including one-third of Indian mothers—give birth without any medical help at all...

Read the full story at The Economist.

RELATED TOPICS

Three women grouped together: an elderly woman smiling, a transwoman with her arms folded, and a woman holding her headscarf with a baby strapped to her back.

Topic

Gender Equality

Gender Equality
navy halftone illustration of a female doctor with her arms crossed

Topic

Health Inequities

Health Inequities

Support our work

Your support ensures great journalism and education on underreported and systemic global issues