Every year approximately 350,000 women die while pregnant or giving birth — almost 1,000 a day. Of these women, 99 percent die in developing countries.
Guatemala suffers one of the highest mortality rates for both mothers and newborns in the Americas. Guatemala was listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2009 as having the third highest maternal mortality rate, exceeded only by Haiti and Guyana. Guatemala loses 290 mothers for every 100,000 live births to pregnancy and birth-related causes. (World Health Statistics, 2009) In the rural highlands of Guatemala (where the population is 95% indigenous), the rate is 446 per 100,000.
 |
| Photo Credit: globalgiving.org |
While midwives have a long history of practice in Guatemala, midwifery education has been uneven and informal, relying on small projects and the transmission of knowledge and skills mostly by individuals with limited experience in home birth. Today midwives in Guatemala receive short trainings, lasting from one week to several months, from the ministry of health or from any of a number of NGOs.
source: Midwife International