In Mexico, where COVID-19 had claimed more than 95,000 lives by mid-November, illness related to the virus has become the leading cause of maternal deaths.

This sobering trend reverses a two-decade decline in Mexico’s maternal mortality rate.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 has complicated other elements of reproductive healthcare in Mexico. Since the outbreak, the lack of information on how to access health services has made acquiring contraception more difficult. Violence against women has increased, according to women’s rights advocates, which poses additional challenges to providing effective maternal and reproductive health care, including abortion.

For all the stress the pandemic is placing on Mexico’s health care system, COVID-19 also may present an opportunity for continued progress in reproductive health by bringing to the forefront the advantages of Mexico’s growing midwifery movement and the potential of telemedicine in abortion care.

Before COVID-19, the country began working under an overhauled public health system to make it more patient-centered and focused on community rights. Advocates for midwifery, trained individuals who assist women with pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum, say the services midwives provide to many women align with the new system’s goals.

“It is a key moment,” said Ilian Blanco, an official with Mexico City’s Ministry of Health. “There is a major integration effort going on right now in Mexico’s public health system to link local community clinics and those with formal surgery services. The vision of an integrated community network that links to hospitals […] works perfectly with our proposed models.”

Maria Antonieta Alcalde Castro of Ipas, an organization that supports girls’ and women’s rights to contraception and abortion, added that: “COVID has shown us that when you have limited resources and a crisis, reaching out to midwives could be a very smart and cost-effective way to ensure that someone will be there when you need their services.”

Midwifery is more efficient, costs less, and typically offers better protection from contagious diseases than conventional hospital deliveries. Midwifery also can distinguish healthy pregnancies and childbirths from those complicated by illness. All are important factors regardless of whether a pandemic has struck.

Read the full article about challenges for reproductive health at MacArthur Foundation.