title: Old skills and new knowledge: midwifery in contemporary Zimbabwe.
abstract: Sixty-one traditional birth attendants residing in the southern sector of Zimbabwe were interviewed concerning their midwifery practice. Traditional midwives were interviewed individually to gather information concerning: (a) the development of traditional midwifery skills, (b) the nature of traditional birthing patterns, (c) the features of the one-week midwifery training program provided to upgrade traditional midwives, and (d) traditional midwifery as practiced today, post the one-week training program. In describing past and present traditional midwifery, they reported a change in the use of sanitation practices, a heightened understanding of at-risk pregnancies and the need for formal medical intervention, and the adoption of mechanisms to record new births.
authors.affiliation: Department of Individual and Family Studies, University of Delaware, Newark 19716, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Conway-Turner
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008880:Midwifery; D009721:Nurse Midwives / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016746:Transcultural Nursing; D015030:Zimbabwe