Interviews with Mexican midwives

Mexican society contains a variety of indigenous cultures as well as European influences. Most babies in rural areas are delivered by midwives. Traditional midwives, government-trained and empirical midwives, nurse-midwives, and foreign-trained midwives all practice in Mexico. Nurse-midwives in one project are demonstrating their ability to meet the needs of urban childbearing women. A midwifery organization is developing under the leadership of midwives influenced by the contemporary midwifery movement in the United States. In this article, some traditional Mexican midwifery practices are discussed and interviews with several different Mexican midwives from a variety of backgrounds are presented.