Threats to safe motherhood in Honduran Miskito communities: Local perceptions of factors that contribute to maternal mortality

Shahna Arps

Social Science & Medicine, 2009, vol. 69, issue 4, 579-586

Abstract: Despite global initiatives to lower rates of maternal death, barriers to safe motherhood persist, particularly in socially and economically marginalized communities. This article describes the risks that women in Honduran Miskito villages encounter during pregnancy and childbirth. Ethnographic data are used to examine emic understandings of the underlying causes of maternal death. Participant observation, four community discussions, individual interviews with 218 women and five midwives, and a maternal mortality survey were conducted during November 2004 through November 2005. Case studies are drawn from the 55 death histories collected during the survey to illustrate the factors that contribute to maternal mortality. Community members identified poverty, gender inequality, witchcraft, and sorcery as major threats to safe motherhood. All of these factors influence women's health-related behaviors; and therefore, each issue deserves attention from public health officials. Designing appropriate interventions to improve maternal health depends on understanding the forces that increase women's vulnerability during pregnancy and childbirth. Local perspectives of risk, even when they diverge from biomedical understandings, point to specific needs, issues to address, and avenues for effective intervention.

Keywords: Honduras; Miskito; Maternal; mortality; Maternal; health; Mothers; Women; Childbirth; Pregnancy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(09)00362-1
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:69:y:2009:i:4:p:579-586

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().