ASIA
2013
Ha, J.-O. (2013). Risk disparities in the globalisation of assisted reproductive technology: The case of Asia. Global Public Health, 8(8), 904–925. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2013.826270
- In other words, in the process of technology transfer regulations already enacted in advanced countries are often disregarded since they are considered barriers to technological development under the legitimising base of ‘developmentalism’. Therefore, the risks of technology should be 918 J.-O. Ha characterised as social facts not natural ones or mere ‘side effects’, since technological development and risk are closely intertwined. Though not earnestly discussed in this paper, the gender politics of technology risk is also a significant matter.
BANGLADESH
2018
Haider MR, Rahman MM, Moinuddin M, Rahman AE, Ahmed S, Khan MM (2018) Ever-increasing Caesarean section and its economic burden in Bangladesh. PLoS ONE 13(12): e0208623. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208623 Accessed https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0208623
- CONCLUDED: “High CS delivery rate and the negative health outcomes associated with the procedure on mothers and child births incur huge economic burden on the families. This is creating inappropriate allocation of scarce resources in the poor economy like Bangladesh. Therefore it is important to control this unnecessary CS practices by the health providers by introducing litigation and special guidelines in the health policy.”
CHINA
2020
Santos, G. (2020). Birthing Stories and Techno-moral Change across Generations: Coping with Hospital Births and High-tech Medicalization in Rural South China, 1960s–2010s. Technology and Culture, 61(2), 581–616. https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2020.0054 Accessed https://muse.jhu.edu/article/761577
- CONCLUDED: (from abstract) “In the last 100 years, new biomedical technologies altered childbirth practices in China on virtually every level. This transformation was significantly accelerated after the launch of the Birth Planning Policy in 1979. At the turn of the millennium, the government enforced a policy of mandatory hospital births to bring the country closer to United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals in terms of maternal and infant health, but these reforms were accompanied by a dramatic increase in cesarean rates. Drawing on oral history materials collected in a rural community in Guangdong province, this article shows how China’s cesarean surge gave rise to complex generational frictions in women’s techno-moral understandings of what should be the right way to give birth. These generational frictions show that the history of childbirth medicalization is not just a history of changing institutions, policies and technologies; it is also a history of changing technological selves and moral ideals.“
INDIA
2022
Faheem. (2022). The nature of obstetric violence and the organisational context of its manifestation in India: a systematic review. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 29(2), 2004634–2004634. https://doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2021.2004634 Accessed https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8654405/
- CONCLUDED: “Our review has indicated the widespread and systemic nature of obstetric violence. The abusive environment in health facilities fosters fear about facility care among women, contributes to worsened health outcomes, and deters women from further utilisation of healthcare services. Therefore, along with expanding institutional deliveries and access to emergency obstetric care, measures should be taken to ensure dignified treatment during childbirth.
2020
Ansari, & Yeravdekar, R. (2020). Respectful maternity care during childbirth in India: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Postgraduate Medicine (Bombay), 66(3), 133–140. https://doi.org/10.4103/jpgm.JPGM_648_19 Accessed: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7542060/
- CONCLUDED: “The high prevalence of disrespectful maternity care indicates an urgent need to improve maternity care in India by making it more respectful, dignified, and women-centered. Interventions, policies, and programs should be implemented that will protect the fundamental rights of women.”
IRAN
2022
Sabetghadam, S., Keramat, A., Goli, S., Malary, M., & Rezaie Chamani, S. (2022). Assessment of Medicalization of Pregnancy and Childbirth in Low-risk Pregnancies: A Cross-sectional Study. International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery, 10(1), 64–73. https://doi.org/10.30476/IJCBNM.2021.90292.1686
- Results: Of the participants, 82.2% received prenatal care from obstetricians, 85.8% had undergone prenatal screening tests. There was a significant difference between the median number of ultrasound examinations (P=0.006), prenatal screening for aneuploidy (P=0.002), and multivitamin/mineral supplements use (p <0.001), according to the source of providing prenatal care. Of the participants, 67.1% had CS. Women who received prenatal care from obstetricians had about 2.3 times more odds of CS (OR=2.23, P=0.019). Furthermore, with the increased number of ultrasounds, the odds of CS augmented by 25% (OR=1.25, P=0.013). Finally, 26.4% of the participants were hospitalized before the onset of labor; the intervention increased the odds of CS more than twice (OR=2.08, P=0.026).
Conclusion: The study showed a picture of medicalization in low-risk pregnancies.Of the medicalization indicators, the source of providing prenatal care, time of admission, and use of ultrasounds were associated with CS. Midwife-led care could diminish medicalization.
2015
Sedigh Mobarakabadi, S., Mirzaei Najmabadi, K., & Ghazi Tabatabaie, M. (2015). Ambivalence towards childbirth in a medicalized context: a qualitative inquiry among Iranian mothers. Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal, 17(3), e24262–e24262. https://doi.org/10.5812/ircmj.24262 Accessed: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276405836_Ambivalence_Towards_Childbirth_in_a_Medicalized_Context_A_Qualitative_Inquiry_Among_Iranian_Mothers
- CONCLUDED: “Childbirth has become increasingly medicalized in Iran and many Iranian mothers follow the medical approach, despite their inclination toward natural childbirth. Undoubtedly, medical approaches are necessary in specific circumstances, but overexpansion of medicalization interferes with mothers’ decision-making about childbirth. In this study, we tried to provide a broad description of medicalization of childbirth in Iran using a qualitative inquiry. Health authorities can prevent the adverse effects of medicalized birth and encourage natural child-birth among women using the obtained findings“
2013
Sadat, Z., Taebi, M., Saberi, F., & Kalarhoudi, M. A. (2013). The relationship between mode of delivery and postpartum physical and mental health related quality of life. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, 18(6), 499–504
- The findings demonstrated that VD leads to a better physical health at 2 months after delivery and mental health at 4 months after delivery. Efforts should be made to reduce CS.
JAPAN
2010
Behruzi, R., Hatem, M., Fraser, W. et al. Facilitators and barriers in the humanization of childbirth practice in Japan. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 10, 25 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2393-10-25 Accessed https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2393-10-25#citeas
- CONCLUDED: “Based on our results, we concluded that despite the increased rate of caesarean sections in the highly specialized hospitals studied, the participating Japanese settings for which humanized birth care has been an institutional goal, have proven very successful in providing this type of care in term of preventing unnecessary medical interventions. Our results allow us to conclude that the cultural values, beliefs and views of both participant women and obstetricians towards birth is a strong facilitating factor for the humanization of the childbirth practice in this setting. While in most of the developed countries, enduring a painful birth is considered an outdated idea in the presence of analgesic drugs, labour pain is still not seen as useless in Japan, but a physiologic process that produces something invaluable to the mother and baby. Even so, some barriers remain to achieving a more humanized form of childbirth in Japan, Future challenges, especially in the birthing homes could be the implementation of the strategies that provide more autonomy to midwives, including an extension of the scope of midwifery practice, such as give injections or medications with permission of a physician or obstetrician in the cases that a normal birth takes a sudden turn to a risky situation. Moreover, all the strategies to diminish the pressure on husbands in the work place and allow them to accompany their spouse during prenatal, intrapartum and post partum could be helpful in providing more psychological and emotional support for women. Meanwhile, changing birth settings rules and regulation in order to accept the presence of husband in labour without any precondition is necessary for providing more humanized care.”
JORDAN
2020
Khasawneh, W., Obeidat, N., Yusef, D., & Alsulaiman, J. W. (2020). The impact of cesarean section on neonatal outcomes at a university-based tertiary hospital in Jordan. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 20(1), 335–335. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-03027-2 Accessed https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-020-03027-2#:~:text=Our%20present%20study%20showed%20a,all%20deliveries%20at%20our%20institution.
- CS deliveries account for more than half the number of deliveries at our institution and almost one third of the delivered babies are admitted to the NICU. Together with the resulting maternal and neonatal consequences, this carries a major burden on the newborns, health care facilities, and involved families. Local strategies and policies should be established and implemented to improve the outcome of births.
PAKISTAN
2018
Ali, Y., Khan, M. W., Mumtaz, U., Salman, A., Muhammad, N., & Sabir, M. (2018). Identification of factors influencing the rise of cesarean sections rates in Pakistan, using MCDM. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 31(8), 1058–1069. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-04-2018-0087
- The result shows that the medical factors that are responsible for the rise in the rate of cesarean sections are umbilical cord prolapse, age of mother and obesity of mother. On the other hand, the non-medical factors that are the reasons for the increase in cesarean sections are the large number of private hospitals and the unethical acts of the doctors in these hospitals, preference of patients, and either the unavailability of doctors or poor conditions of hospitals in rural areas.
PALESTINE
2020
Mortensen, B., Diep, L. M., Lukasse, M., Lieng, M., Dwekat, I., Elias, D., & Fosse, E. (2019). Women’s satisfaction with midwife-led continuity of care: an observational study in Palestine. BMJ Open, 9(11), e030324–e030324. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030324
- There is an association between receiving midwife-led continuity of care and increased satisfaction with care through the continuum of pregnancy, intrapartum and postpartum period, and an increased duration of exclusive breastfeeding.