| Popis: |
According to pertinent health indicators such as life expectancy at birth (LEB), maternal mortality (MM), and infant mortality (IM), the three poorest regions in Mexico include the Guerrero Mountains, the Tarahumara Sierra, and the Nayar. Access to health for all people in Mexico is important—it is a human right and helps to prevent inequity between different groups in our population. In this chapter, we demonstrate how gaps in the access of indigenous women to obtain health services contribute to maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Our analysis concentrates on several elements of the health system necessary to guarantee the right of health protection for indigenous women: health coverage, availability of resources, access to services, and quality of obstetric care. We emphasize indigenous women’s health because they experience the greatest barriers to access services as a result of social inequalities based on gender, ethnicity, and social class. We would like to also highlight the MM indicator, given that it exemplifies the social determinants of health, inequities, and the barriers to guarantee the ability to exercise the right to health. Finally, the performance of unnecessary cesarean sections is an indicator that may serve as proxy for problems related to quality of care for indigenous women, including the right to respectful care. The present analysis demonstrates the existence of systematic exclusion and discrimination affecting indigenous women that influence their income, welfare, and basic health conditions, especially involving reproductive health. This study points to the urgent need to develop measures that contribute to improving income and decreasing poverty in the country’s indigenous regions, with a target population of indigenous women and youth. |
