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OBJECTIVE: To obtain a snapshot of the maternal and newborn care provided by different types of maternal and child health providers in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to 1) better inform advocacy and programmatic strategies and interventions to improve the quality of those services in the region, and 2) determine the need for more rigorous study of the issues. METHODS: A rapid assessment of 83 health workers providing antepartum, intrapartum, and immediate postpartum and newborn care (within two hours of birth) in eight LAC countries was conducted in November and December of 2011. Health workers were observed by two-person expert maternal/newborn clinician teams using pretested forms based on international quality-of-care standards. A total of 105 care encounters were observed, primarily in urban, public, referral-level settings. Providers of care included obstetricians, midwives, generalist physicians, medical residents, registered nurses, auxiliary nurses, and students of medicine, midwifery, and nursing. RESULTS: Hand washing, as an indicator of quality of antepartum care, was observed in only 41% of the observed encounters. Labor management often lacked certain elements of respectful maternity care across all provider groups. Several clinical tasks of high importance in the identification and prevention of common complications of antepartum, intrapartum, and immediate postpartum/newborn care were not documented as performed during the observation periods. Providers self-reported limited competence (ability to perform to a defined level of proficiency) in manual removal of the placenta, bimanual compression of the uterus, and newborn resuscitation. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that 1) the quality of maternal and newborn care and 2) the competence of maternal and child health providers in the diverse selection of LAC countries that were studied require substantial attention.

En este trabajo subrayamos la necesidad de contar las muertes maternas que ocurren como resultado de episodios de violencia doméstica, y también exponemos algunas de las principales dificultades que se enfrentan al tratar de hacerlo. Examinamos algunos elementos básicos que deben tenerse presentes al contar las muertes maternas de este tipo y explicamos cómo una definición de mortalidad materna que dé cabida a la violencia doméstica como causa de muerte mejorará la vigilancia epidemiológica y las intervenciones de salud. Lograr un acuerdo general acerca de la definición de "muerte materna por violencia doméstica" y un marco estratégico para responder a ese tipo de muerte constituiría un logro de gran importancia para los sectores de la comunidad internacional que velan por la salud de la mujer y la equidad de género.