ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a culturally appropriate and efficacious mode of solitary and kin-assisted delivery, acknowledging that birth can take place without any problems, no matter who attends or doesn’t. It argues that programs intending to improve maternal and perinatal health must ensure that all maternal health care services are culturally appropriate. As noted in the 2009 UN Report on the State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, an intercultural health care system that recognizes and supports local indigenous health systems has a better chance of achieving successful interventions. The traditional Tarahumara method of delivering alone or with a family member has been deleteriously impacted by externally generated efforts to change these practices. Causes of maternal mortality are classified as directly related to “obstetric complications of the pregnant state”, indirectly related to a previously existing condition, or incidental (cause not related to pregnancy).
