Centro de Investigaciones en Salud de Comitan

The Centro de Investigación en Salud de Comitán (CISC) is a health research center located in Chiapas. This award facilitates the creation of new professional midwifery programs in Mexico through support for CISC’s participation in developing a core curriculum at the university level. CISC is creating a digital archive of materials to be used in schools. The archive is meant to facilitate schools’ access to materials, knowledge about materials used in other schools, and enable trainers and students to have a readily accessible library. The final element of the project is to document Chiapas-based initiatives to deploy midwives, and to disseminate findings.

A three year, $300,000 grant to Centro de Investigación en Salud de Comitán (CISC) will support the creation of a new university level training program for professional midwifery for the Intercultural University of Chiapas. A new midwifery program will be created for enrollment by local, bilingual and mainly indigenous students wishing to pursue a career in midwifery – a wholly new option for Chiapas. The program will be based on emerging experiences in Mexico and Guatemala. To facilitate the creation of other schools or programs, CISC will document how to earn accreditation of a midwifery school and produce a reference guide.

To disseminate intervention models for the prevention of maternal mortality (over three years).

To develop educational tools for the prevention of maternal mortality in Chiapas and municipal outreach activities (over three years)

For activities to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity in the southern border region of Chiapas State (over three years).