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December 2004, Vol 94, No. 12 | American Journal of Public Health 2062-2065
© 2004 American Public Health Association

COMMENTARY

The Latina Paradox: An Opportunity for Restructuring Prenatal Care Delivery

Michael S. McGlade, PhD, Somnath Saha, MD, MPH and Marie E. Dahlstrom, MA

Michael S. McGlade is with the Geography Department, Western Oregon University, Monmouth. Somnath Saha is with the Section of General Internal Medicine, Portland VA Medical Center, and the Departments of Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland. At the time of the writing, Marie E. Dahlstrom was with the Susannah Maria Gurule Foundation, Portland, Ore.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Somnath Saha, MD, MPH, Portland VAMC (P3MED), 3710 SW US Veterans Hospital Rd, Portland, OR 97239 (e-mail: sahas{at}ohsu.edu).

Latina mothers in the United States enjoy surprisingly favorable birth outcomes despite their social disadvantages. This "Latina paradox" is particularly evident among Mexican-born women.

The social and cultural factors that contribute to this paradox are maintained by community networks—informal systems of prenatal care that are composed of family, friends, community members, and lay health workers. This informal system confers protective factors that provide a behavioral context for healthy births. US-born Latinas are losing this protection, although it could be maintained with the support of community-based informal care systems.

We recommend steps to harness the benefits of informal systems of prenatal care in Latino communities to meet the increasing needs of pregnant Latina women.




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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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