When women realize labor is not progressing normally they first seek female friends or traditional birth attendants.

Health post provided two trained traditional birth attendants with Family Health workers.

The traditional birth attendants are known as comadronas or iyom kʻexelom, and receive prestige for their practice.

In addition, traditional healers (herbalists) and traditional birth attendants play an important role in providing health care to the city residents.

A traditional birth attendant may have been formally educated and has chosen to not register.

In addition, many people get medical treatment from traditional practitioners and traditional birth attendants.

Four percent deliver with a nurse's aide, 12% with family members, 5% with a traditional birth attendant, and 4% with no assistance.

Is Sierra Leone right to ban traditional birth attendants?

We'll report on the impact of the ban on traditional birth attendants in Sierra Leone.

Given the difficulty in getting female teachers and doctors to rural areas, aid groups are improvising, training village women to be traditional birth attendants, for example.