Childbirth in Chiapas, Mexico: Who provides delivery care and where?

Objective. To identify the place and provider of delivery care; to analyse the relationship between the type of delivery care provider and prenatal care and sociodemographic factors; to identify groups with greater and lesser probability of receiving attention at health centers and to identify the reasons for not attending the health center nearest to the household. Material and methods. Data on the delivery care of 297 women of La Fraylesca Region, Chiapas, were gathered using multivariate logit models to identify groups. Results. From the total, 32% of childbirths occurred at health centers and 60% at home (mostly with poor sanitary conditions). Only 10% of women with less than 5 prenatal visits, school level under 3 years and whose household head was a peasant were attended by health care personnel. Conclusions. The accessibility and quality of health centers must be improved, and a programme aimed at increasing the number of deliveries that are attended by trained health care personnel should be implemented.