Associated Press: Bolivia’s midwives help reduce maternal mortality
“…[M]any indigenous women [in Bolivia] distrust hospitals and cesarean births. They prefer to rely on traditional midwives, who they often refer to as ‘aunt.’ Led by Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, the government has tapped into this strong cultural bond to train about 500 midwives and improve their medical skills. It is incorporating them into the health system as it strives to lower Bolivia’s maternal mortality, which is the highest in South America and among the highest in the Western Hemisphere…” (Flores, 8/3).