1/8/2015
SAO PAULO – Brazil’s Health Ministry considers the increase in Caesarian sections an “epidemic” and has launched a campaign to promote natural childbirth in South America’s most populous country.
Some 84 percent of women with private health insurance in Brazil, according to government figures, deliver their babies by C-section, a practice chosen or required by 40 percent of women on public assistance.
The World Health Organization, or WHO, recommends that no more than 40 percent of births should be by C-section.
In 2013, there were 440,000 births by C-section, a figure that alarmed public health officials and prompted them to launch a campaign against the practice.
“This epidemic of Caesarian sections in Brazil is unacceptable,” Health Minister Artur Chioro said. “There is no option other than treating it as a public health problem.”
The government now requires that physicians and obstetricians justify in a written report the choice of C-section, and private insurance companies may deny coverage for the surgery if they conclude it is unnecessary.
“A significant number of C-sections are practiced when the woman is not even in labor,” Chioro said. “Inappropriate surgical births lead to more pre-term babies and other complications.”
The Health Ministry estimates that C-sections increase a newborn’s risk of respiratory problems by 120 percent and triple the risk of maternal mortality.
The Sao Paulo Medical Association, for its part, said these statements “cause alarm” among women and “demonize” Caesarian sections.
“The ministry’s decision is arbitrary,” Newton Eduardo Busso, president of the gynecologists section of the association, told Efe.
“The patient deserves to be respected,” he said. “Patients must have autonomy (to decide between natural birth and C-section). The minister cannot take that away from them.”
Other rules entitle women to request data on rates of C-sections and natural births from doctors and hospitals to reach a more informed decision.
Corintio Mariani Net, a gynecologist and professor at the Universidad Cidade de Sao Paulo, or UNICID, said this rule was “absurd.”
A doctor who specializes in high-risk pregnancies is bound to perform more C-sections than others, but that does not mean he is less professional, Mariani Net said.
The Health Ministry’s decision, however, did not just garner criticism.
The Active Maternity Support Group, or GAMA, said the government’s measures were a step forward in efforts to reduce the number of Caesarian sections in Brazil, something the group considers “necessary.”
“Women want natural births, but doctors end up persuading them,” GAMA spokeswoman Ana Cristina Duarte said. “Three large studies in Brazil have proved that. This is one more step.”
The government regulations, submitted for public comment between October and November of last year, will take effect in 180 days.
source
SAO PAULO – Brazil’s Health Ministry considers the increase in Caesarian sections an “epidemic” and has launched a campaign to promote natural childbirth in South America’s most populous country.Some 84 percent of women with private health insurance in Brazil, according to government figures, deliver their babies by C-section, a practice chosen or required by 40 percent of women on public assistance.
The World Health Organization, or WHO, recommends that no more than 40 percent of births should be by C-section.
In 2013, there were 440,000 births by C-section, a figure that alarmed public health officials and prompted them to launch a campaign against the practice.
“This epidemic of Caesarian sections in Brazil is unacceptable,” Health Minister Artur Chioro said. “There is no option other than treating it as a public health problem.”
The government now requires that physicians and obstetricians justify in a written report the choice of C-section, and private insurance companies may deny coverage for the surgery if they conclude it is unnecessary.
“A significant number of C-sections are practiced when the woman is not even in labor,” Chioro said. “Inappropriate surgical births lead to more pre-term babies and other complications.”
The Health Ministry estimates that C-sections increase a newborn’s risk of respiratory problems by 120 percent and triple the risk of maternal mortality.
The Sao Paulo Medical Association, for its part, said these statements “cause alarm” among women and “demonize” Caesarian sections.
“The ministry’s decision is arbitrary,” Newton Eduardo Busso, president of the gynecologists section of the association, told Efe.
“The patient deserves to be respected,” he said. “Patients must have autonomy (to decide between natural birth and C-section). The minister cannot take that away from them.”
Other rules entitle women to request data on rates of C-sections and natural births from doctors and hospitals to reach a more informed decision.
Corintio Mariani Net, a gynecologist and professor at the Universidad Cidade de Sao Paulo, or UNICID, said this rule was “absurd.”
A doctor who specializes in high-risk pregnancies is bound to perform more C-sections than others, but that does not mean he is less professional, Mariani Net said.
The Health Ministry’s decision, however, did not just garner criticism.
The Active Maternity Support Group, or GAMA, said the government’s measures were a step forward in efforts to reduce the number of Caesarian sections in Brazil, something the group considers “necessary.”
“Women want natural births, but doctors end up persuading them,” GAMA spokeswoman Ana Cristina Duarte said. “Three large studies in Brazil have proved that. This is one more step.”
The government regulations, submitted for public comment between October and November of last year, will take effect in 180 days.
source
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