Challenges for traditional birth attendants in northern rural Honduras

SummaryObjectiveto explore the relationship between community-based parteras, the staff at the Centro Materno Infantil (Mother–Child Centre), and other public health facilities within the district of Morazán in northern rural Honduras during the transition to new models of maternity care.Designfocus-group discussions with two groups composed of a convenience sample of community parteras. After verbatim translation of the interviews, the transcripts were analysed for content.Settingthe Centro de Salud of Morazán, Yoro Honduras.Participants28 community-based parteras and one partero (male community midwife).Findingsfive themes emerged from the focus group data: the shared view that attending birth is connected to a religious calling; the desire for additional training; the desire for support from, and connection to, existing public-health services and infrastructure; the role of parteras in providing services to women who otherwise would not receive care; and the lack of new parteras to carry on this work in the future.Key conclusionstraditional birth attendants are still relied upon to serve more than half of the childbearing women in Honduras. The findings from the focus groups provide a foundation upon which to strengthen the relationship between community-based parteras and the government-funded systems of health care during this time of transition to new models of maternity care.