Pregnancy and childbirth in a rural community in the amazon: Reflections on the role of traditional midwives

Abstract

This article reflects on the social role of traditional midwives and their relation with health services in the rural community of Lindóia in the State of Amazonas, Brazil. This community has a delivery room and nursing assistant who is acts as a midwife and articulator of other traditional midwives in the area. We conducted 13 open-ended interviews and ten semi-structured interviews to investigate the involvement of traditional midwives in a primary care center, comparing their responses with those of the health team. It was concluded that community midwives play an important role in the care center, although their activities are limited and regulated by the health facility manager and health team. There is a need to broaden intercultural dialogue between biomedical and traditional knowledge in everyday health care practice.