[Midwives' perception of reproductive risk factors]. / Percepción de las parteras sobre factores de riesgo reproductivo.

Midwives in rural areas of the State of Morelos are one of the most important resources used by rural women for health care of pregnancy, delivery and the puerperium. This work was aimed at identifying midwives perceptions of pregnant women's risk factors, in order to include this knowledge in reproductive health programs which articulate institutional and traditional health systems. We applied a questionnaire to all midwives in the Municipalities of Ocuituco, yecapixtla and Zacualpan, Morelos (n = 35). Four key informants were selected and interviewed. These instruments enabled us to measure variability in perception of risk factors. Knowledge of risk factors is defective among midwives. Previous training made a big difference. Sixty three per cent of midwives who attended training courses are better qualified from an academic medicine point of view. Only 28.7 per cent of non-trained midwives (43% for both groups), indicating that sociocultural aspects prevail over technical training in midwives perceptions of reproductive risk factors.

[An alternative to perinatal care: traditional midwives in the state of Morelos]. / Una alternativa para la atención perinatal: las parteras tradicionales en el Estado de Morelos.

In Morelos, it is estimated that about 40 percent of the births are attended by traditional birth attendants or parteras. This indicates a considerable contribution made by these health care workers. The objective of this study is to present a profile of the parteras in the state of Morelos: their concepts, resources, practices, age groups, geographic concentration, and the degree of training they possess. At the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), a census was created from three sources: data on the rural areas obtained by researchers at INSP; censuses of the parteras made by the Secretary of Health; and those made by the Mexican Social Security System. The total number of parteras found was six hundred and thirty. They are distributed in 33 municipalities throughout the state with the majority lying in the border zones of the urban centers. Most of the parteras are between the ages of 51 and 70 years, however, there exists a small number who are less than 30 years old. Approximately 60 percent knew how to read and write, and half had received training on health services. Besides this information and other studies based on this theme, the parteras have been classified as traditional, trained, and untrained. Due to secondary sources, the data has inevitable limitations in quality. However, the integration of the three sources of information and its relation to qualitative variables constitutes the beginning point for elaboration on plans and programs with this therapeutic sector.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)