Public radio’s longest-running daily global news program.
©2025 The World from PRX
PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402.
Video: Peru creates a special place for expectant mothers to wait — and wait
In rural Peru, women are encouraged to spend their last weeks of pregnancy in special residential facilities that offer comfort and care. But the waiting remains difficult.
Ana María Bolege, nine months pregnant, waits to give birth in a maternal home in Peru.
Oscar Durand
To prevent women from giving birth at home, where they face a higher risk of death, Peru has established a network of maternal "waiting houses." These residential facilities host women from rural areas during their final weeks of pregnancy, so they can give birth in the presence of skilled attendants. Ana María Bolege, 21, has come to a waiting house in the Andean town of Ayacucho, three hours by road from her home.