Unacceptable Mistreatment of Women During Childbirth Globally Revealed

Strategic Insights -

Women across the world are subjected to unacceptable mistreatment during childbirth, with severe violations of their human rights, including rights to privacy, informed consent, and the right to have a trusted companion of choice. A new study released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Human Reproduction Programme (HRP) highlights the pervasive problem of mistreatment of pregnant women, adolescent girls, and persons, as well as newborns, during childbirth. The mistreatment includes forced medical procedures without informed consent, detention of postpartum mothers, and separation of babies from their mothers.

Key Takeaways:

  • Women and newborns are subjected to severe mistreatment during childbirth, including forced medical procedures without informed consent, detention of postpartum mothers, and separation of babies from their mothers.
  • The mistreatment is a pervasive problem globally, violating human rights including rights to privacy, informed consent, and the right to have a trusted companion of choice.
  • The lack of awareness of patients' rights, gender discrimination, and deficiency in clinical empathy skills exacerbate the mistreatment in hospital cultures.
  • The experiences of abuse contribute to eroding trust in health facilities, leading to reduced access to facility-based care before, during, and after birth.
  • The newly published supplement outlines the path to respectful maternity care through national policies, facility-level changes, and community-level challenges to mistreatment normalization.
  • Achieving respectful maternity care is the bare minimum that should be provided to everyone, everywhere, now, with zero tolerance for any kind of abuse.

Statistics:

  • Women and their newborns face severe mistreatment during childbirth, with cases of forced medical procedures without informed consent, detention of postpartum mothers, and separation of babies from their mothers.
  • The mistreatment is exacerbated by the lack of awareness of patients' rights, gender discrimination, and deficiency in clinical empathy skills, which contributions to eroding trust in health facilities.
  • More research is needed, with a focus on new ways of collecting data, understanding how experiences vary depending on context, and how these experiences impact overall outcomes.
  • Written by Mikayla Gowaty, with the aim of highlighting the importance of understanding and improving women's experiences of mistreatment during childbirth.

Sources:

  • World Health Organization (WHO)
  • Human Reproduction Programme (HRP)
  • BMJ Global Health
  • WHO/HRP