Alternative model for low risk obstetric care in Third World rural and peri-urban areas.
The Program for Integrated Health Care (PROAIS) has devised ways and means of reaching the traditional birth attendant, here called empiric midwife and training her to offer adequate, hygienic care at delivery for her low-risk patients. She is taught to recognize the high-risk patient and to send her to the weekly prenatal clinics staffed by physicians and registered nurses. The empiric midwife can also be taught prenatal care, detection of cervical and breast cancer, family planning, and the importance of breastfeeding. These women are considered colleagues by their formal medical counterparts and are treated as such. More recently some of the more capable have been placed on County Health Department payrolls.
PROAIS, Fortaleza, Brazil.
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Hyppolito
D001938:Brazil; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008427:Maternal Health Services; D008880:Midwifery; D012423:Rural Health