Black Maternal Health
Part: 1
U.S. Health Bills Show C-Sections Cut Two Ways
By Naomi Abraham
WeNews correspondent
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The Global MOMS Act seeks to make C-sections more available to women in the developing world. Another maternal health bill--this one focused on the U.S.--flags the procedure as dangerous when it becomes routine.
Reexamining Routine Practices
Roybal-Allard's bill calls for a reexamination of the routine practice of elective Cesarean sections and scheduled inductions. It notes that both procedures put women at risk for hemorrhaging and infection, the leading causes of U.S. maternal death.
Cesareans are three times more likely to cause death than natural births, according to the World Health Organization.
Last summer Amnesty International released a report that found the U.S. lagging behind many developed nations in its maternal mortality ratio. Coming in behind 40 other countries, U.S. women were found to be five times more likely to die in childbirth than in Greece and four times more likely than in Germany.
The United States spends about $86 billion a year on hospitalization related to pregnancy and child care. Jennifer Dohrn, director of the midwifery education program at Columbia University in New York, thinks too much of that is paying for unwarranted Cesareans and inductions that can worsen maternal risks.
"We are misusing billions of dollars," she said.
Roybal-Allard's bill seeks to cut U.S. maternity care costs through public education about the best maternity medical practices, research on gaps in communities' capacities to provide top maternal care and the promotion of culturally-competent and interdisciplinary approaches to maternity care. All of this, Roybal-Allard says, will contribute to lowering maternity care costs.
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Naomi Abraham is a WeNews correspondent.
For more information:
Amnesty Report, Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/dignity/pdf/DeadlyDelivery.pdf
Map showing yearly early rate of decline in maternal mortality ratio, 1990-2008:
http://familyinequality.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/maternalmortalitymap.jpg
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Submitted by Mercy (2 years ago)
This article wrongly cites the World Health Organization's recommendation regarding C-section rates. The WHO recommendation is NOT that "it should not be less than 15%;" rather, it is that it, in fact, should be less than 15%.