Peer-reviewed article
Navigating strategies for intercultural maternal and newborn care in Latin America and the Caribbean: a scoping review.
Guedes de Almeida MM, Barreto do Nascimento Filho T, Ruiz Cortés RI, Iturrino Vilchez F ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This scoping review examined strategies for culturally appropriate maternal and newborn care in Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on how healthcare systems serve Indigenous and ethnic minority women. The review identified 75 studies across 13 countries and categorized 16 different strategies into four domains: healthcare adaptations and workforce training, intercultural communication, community engagement, and institutional governance. The findings show that sustainable intercultural care requires addressing structural barriers and integrating cultural principles throughout health system planning and policy. Most evidence comes from qualitative studies focused on Indigenous populations.
Key points
- Women from racial and ethnic minority groups in LAC experience worse maternal health outcomes and receive culturally inappropriate care
- Four cross-cutting domains of intercultural strategies identified: healthcare adaptations and workforce capacity building, intercultural communication and knowledge exchange, community engagement, and institutional support and governance
- Strategies engaged stakeholders at community, facility, and system levels across 13 countries
- Most studies employed qualitative methods and addressed Indigenous populations
- Sustainable implementation requires addressing structural barriers and integrating intercultural principles into health system planning, service delivery, policy, and governance
Limitations
This scoping review describes identified strategies but does not evaluate their effectiveness or outcomes. The review cannot determine which intercultural approaches are most effective for improving maternal and newborn health outcomes.
Abstract
In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), women from racial and ethnic minority groups experience disproportionately worse maternal health outcomes. In addition to facing barriers to accessing maternity services, they often receive culturally inappropriate care. To address these inequities, a range of intercultural approaches to maternal and newborn care has been implemented across the region. However, the extent and nature of these initiatives over the past decade remain underexplored. We conducted a scoping review to identify, categorize, and describe strategies for promoting intercultural maternal and newborn care in LAC. We searched nine databases and grey literature for studies published in English, Spanish, or Portuguese between 2013 and 2024. This review identified 75 studies and 16 strategy categories across 13 countries. Most studies addressed Indigenous populations and employed qualitative methods. Strategies were grouped into four cross-cutting domains: (i) healthcare adaptations and workforce capacity building, (ii) intercultural communication and knowledge exchange, (iii) community engagement, and (iv) institutional support and governance. The identified strategies engaged stakeholders at the community, facility, and system levels. Based on these findings, we developed a framework for interculturality in maternal and newborn care. Our analysis indicates that sustainable implementation depends on addressing structural barriers and integrating intercultural principles into health system planning, service delivery, policy, and governance. The proposed framework can inform research, policymaking, and development of intercultural maternal and newborn care initiatives in LAC and other culturally diverse settings.