Pregnancy and birth in an indigenous Huichol community

From structural violence to structural policy responses

Bibliographic Data

ID15099432
AuthorsJennie Gamlin (0000-0003-1213-3380, University College London, corresponding author), Jennie B Gamlin, Sarah Hawke (0000-0003-1062-3538, University College London), Sarah J Hawkes
Year2015
Volume17
Issue1
Pages78-91
Publication date2015-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture Health & Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-1058 • E-ISSN: 1464-5351
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691058.2014.950334
PMID25175749
OpenAlexW2143257401
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited19

Mexico's indigenous regions are characterised by socio-economic marginalisation and poor health outcomes and the Maternal Mortality Rate in indigenous communities continues to be around six times higher than the national rate. Using as a case study the Huichol community of North-Western Mexico we will discuss how institutional health and welfare programmes which aim to address accepted risk factors for maternal health are undermined by a series of structural barriers which put indigenous women especially in harm's way. Semi-structured interviews and observational data were gathered between 2009 and 2011 in highland communities and on coastal tobacco plantations to where a large number of this ethnic group migrate. Many Huichol women birth alone, and to facilitate this process they maintain a low nutritional intake to reduce their infant's growth and seek spiritual guidance during pregnancy from a shaman. These practices are reinforced by feelings of shame and humiliation encountered when using institutional health provision. These are some of the structural barriers to care that need to be addressed. Effective interventions could include addressing the training of health professionals, focusing on educational inequalities and the structural determinants of poverty whilst designing locally specific programmes that encourage acceptance of available health care

Community mobilization · Economic growth · Ethnic group · Harm · Health care · Health equity · Humiliation · Indigenous · Political science · Poverty · Psychological intervention · Shame · Structural violence · Child Nutrition and Water Access · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Global Maternal and Child Health · Medicine · Nursing

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