Barriers for Birth Companionship: A Narrative Review
Papa Dasari*
Senior Professor, Department of OBGY, WCH, JIPMER, Puducherry, India
*Corresponding Author: Papa Dasari, Senior Professor, Department of OBGY, WCH, JIPMER, Puducherry, India.
Received:
June 30, 2023; Published: July 17, 2023
Abstract
Historically during home birth, the women in labour were always supported by the presence of a woman in the family or friends or neighbours but maternal morbidity and mortality was high. Institutionalization of deliveries has brought down mortality for the past few decades but what surfaced is “Disrespect and Abuse” which has been recognized as a barrier for utilizing the services to optimum. Recognizing this, various Organizations in most of the Nations adopted” Birth Companion Policy”. But this is not implemented especially in Public sectors in India and other developing Countries. Some of the barriers include lack of infrastructure, not respecting women’s choices, health care personal not aware of the women’s reproductive rights and existence of Govt’s policy regarding birth companions, fear of litigation., overcrowding, lack of privacy, lack of training for birth companion and lack of policies at the departmental and Institutional level etc. Removing the barriers and facilitating Birth companionship is the need of the hour to promote humanization of Child birth.
Keywords: Child Birth; Birth Companion; Barriers; Disrespect and Abuse; Humanization
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