De Madres a Madres: a community, primary health care program based on empowerment

Based on the concepts of empowerment of indigenous women through unity, validation of women as key health promoters, and the acceptance of a community's ability to identify and redress its own health needs, the de Madres a Madres Program was started in a Houston inner-city Hispanic community. The program has become a strategy for mobilizing a total community for health. Indigenous volunteer mothers learned how to provide information to increase access to health care. Information was provided through community coalitions the mothers formed with health clinics, social service agencies, local businesses, schools, churches, elected officials, and the media. Outcome data identified the covert functions of the program to be the enhancement of individual women's self-esteem and power, and the collective enhancement of community self-esteem, power, and economy. The concept of a community economy and a theoretical basis of empowerment of women are discussed in terms of community empowerment for community health.