Every woman in the world must have respectful care during childbirth: a reflection

Abstract

The power imbalance between women and providers is echoed and exacerbated by similar power dynamics between providers (across cadre and seniority) that can produce counterproductive and even toxic interactions between members of the care team, undermining quality of care and contributing to provider burnout [2]. In the Millennium Development Goal-era push to reduce maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity, strong recommendations and actions were taken to reduce home births and encourage women to instead give birth in health facilities. [...]we now know that facility birth does not on its own lead to improved outcomes; these rely on quality, respectful, evidence-based care [3]. For this series, we have selected the use of Respectful Care over the negative terms (“disrespect and abuse”, “mistreatment during childbirth”, or “obstetric violence”), in order to focus on the positive aspects of care and caring as a broader concept that encompasses all of what pregnant and childbearing people and their families deserve, and not just the absence of mistreatment [21].