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This paper offers descriptive data in the fields of ethnomedicine and ethnonutrition from a community of Ladino (non-Indian) in Guatemala. The data were taken from questionnaires obtained from 102 mothers on 506 living persons. Though no health facilities exist within the village, 3 midwives are in the village who deliver most of the children. (They charge the equivalent of $3.50-$5.00.) Most women deliver in the village, which is usually quite safe unless the complication of delayed expulsion of the placenta is present. No special dietary precautions are taken by the mother during pregnancy in this culture. Midwives are engaged around the 4th or 5th month of pregnancy, and the midwife makes monthly visits after that to feel the fetus's position and prescribe various herbal and patent medicines as required. Delivery position is usually kneeling or squatting. Women bathe 8 days after delivery, and sexual intercourse is resumed 2-3 weeks later. Nearly all women breast-feed their babies (only 3 of 506 infants were not breast-fed according to the survey). If the woman cannot breast-feed her child, a bottle method is used rather than another women's breast. Mothers nurse up to 2.5 years without cultural interference. There is a taboo against nursing while in another pregnancy term. Weaning is generally accomplished, therefore, by refusing the child the breast. The child's diet is suited to the devleopment of his or her teeth, with milk-soaked bread and gruel constituting the diet for the first 2-3 years, after which the child eats the same diet as adults. Sickness and disease in children in San Antonio are most frequently attributed by the villagers to worms; hence, the baby is force-fed oil upon birth to cleanse the infant of worms. Edema is also a serious child health problem. Various native medicines are described which are used to treat childhood illness in San Antonio.

Editorial note. The material presented below was originally recorded in an article by Dr Hall in Cuadernos Medico-Sociales, 10, 1969. This Chilean medical journal is published in Spanish and is relatively inaccessible in Europe. In view of the interest and importance of the attitude of the male to family planning, especially perhaps of the South American male, it seemed desirable to bring Dr Hall's findings to the attention of a wider audience. The paper which follows is a revised version of the original English text from which the Spanish translation was prepared. I am much obliged to Dr Hall for her cooperation.A survey of 584 men in Santiago and 217 men in an adjacent rural area showed that:(1) Men were favourable to family planning, both in their own personal relationships and for other adults. In all socio-economic strata, more respondents favoured giving information to men than women. It is suggested that male support be enlisted in efforts to reduce induced abortions.(2) Men favoured giving contraceptive information to youths of both sexes. The family planning programme, therefore, could provide information to adolescents at a time when attitudes toward sex are developing.(3) There was wide agreement that family planning education be discussed in schools ‘in accordance with the age of the children.’ There is thus an opportunity for the schools to help children develop a system of values within the framework of widely available effective contraception.

Family planning was one of the major topics of the fifteenth International Conference of the Confederation of Midwives held in Santiago in November 1969. The importance of family planning training in the education of midwives has been recognized by the association since 1966, and a major paper at the conference pinpointed midwives as being in a unique position to understand the problems of the population explosion and to help solve them.

A survey of Honduran elites consisting of 300 government, business, industrial and professional leaders and 400 university students, was undertaken to determine the sources of negative and positive influences on birth control in order to outline a typology of opinions covering the entire range of attidues toward this issue. Major sources of negative influence are the Roman Catholic Church, political parties, and the universities. The support of this issue is also encountered along the entire political spectrum, mainly the centralist and rightist positions, with the most vocal support coming from the Family Planning Association. The paper describes the view of the various groups and then arranges the elite's opinions on birth control into a typology.

A longitudinal study of the social and biological determinants of physical growth and mental development in rural Guatemala was started in 1969. A program was launched involving supplementation of pregnant mothers with a protein and calorie supplement ("atole") in 2 villages and another calorie supplement ("fresco") in 2 other villages. This paper presents an integrated quantitative approach to the analysis of data collected in the maternal supplementation program using 2 examples. The first example compares the effects of maternal height and weight at conception, and maternal caloric supplementation during pregnancy on birthweight. It was found that maternal childhood nutrition is as important a determinant of birthweight as is caloric supplementation during pregnancy. Similarly, the nutritional status of the mother during conception is as powerful a determinant of birthweight as is caloric supplementation during pregnancy. Past obstetrical history and maternal age do not affect these interrelationships among birthweight and maternal height, weight at conception, and maternal supplementation. The second example involves a consideration of postnatal function of the child, as well as several prenatal factors which affect infant mortality. Infant mortality in the study villages was found to be 4 times greater for babies with birthweight of 2.5 kg or less at term ("small for dates" babies; infant mortality rate, 121/1,000) than for heavier babies (infant mortality rate, 30/1000) (p0.05). By increasing maternal calorie supplementation during pregnancy, the number of babies weighing 2.5 kg or less was reduced from 20% among babies born to mothers ingesting less than 5000 calories during pregnancy to 5% among babies born to mothers who consume more than 20,000 calories during pregnancy. The findings suggest that village infant mortality can be lowered, and the birth of "small for dates" babies prevented by ensuring adequate levels of maternal nutrition during pregnancy. Efforts to improve maternal nutrition should start in childhood for optimum infant survival.