Until a few years ago, childbirth was the leading cause of death for women in the municipality of Tenejapa, located in the Highlands region of Chiapas (Los Altos de Chiapas). Faced with this situation, coupled with a lack of medical services in the region, traditional midwives from 22 communities joined forces to combat the issue. They formed the “Un solo corazón A.C.” Midwives Network, an organization that has succeeded in reducing maternal and infant mortality rates to zero while attending 98% of births in the area.
Despite achieving their initial goal, the Midwives Network still lacks proper, dignified spaces for consultations, which significantly complicates their humanitarian work as they must treat patients in their own homes. Consequently, the Fundación Mesoamérica Profunda has been working with the Network for several years to realize the construction of the necessary spaces for the midwives to carry out their work safely and in sanitary conditions through the “Casa de la partera” initiative. Within this context, Comunal Taller de Arquitectura joined the collaboration to develop the project for care facilities in the community of Bajchen.
The project had to be designed in collaboration with the midwives under the principles of participatory design; consequently, it was developed in three phases.
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