EC Gynaecology

Introduction

In recent decades, obstetric violence in its multiple forms has been an important research topic. Throughout the world, people have witnessed violence during childbirth, especially in poorer countries where it is easier to find [1]. Garcia L. M. (2023) says that obstetric violence is anything that makes women feel pain during pregnancy, childbirth, or the puerperium. Thus, obstetric violence is considered an obstacle to quality maternal health care service utilization [2]. Premature labour, postpartum haemorrhage and other subsequent negative experiences and feelings that lead to a decreased desire to seek both facility-based childbirth and postnatal health care facility delivery are indirect contributors to maternal and neonatal morbidity. This amounts to a serious violation of fundamental liberties [3].

1. Garcia LM. “Obstetric violence in the United States and other high-income countries: an integrative review”. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters1 (2023): 2322194.
2. Mihret MS. “Obstetric violence and its associated factors among postnatal women in a Specialized Comprehensive Hospital, Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia”. BMC Research Notes1 (2019): 600.
3. Sanga NE and Joho AA. “Intrapartum violence during facility-based childbirth and its determinants: A cross-sectional study among postnatal women in Tanzania”. Women's Health (London, England) 19 (2023): 17455057231189544.
4. Pablo MC., et al. “Respectful maternity care interventions to address women's mistreatment in childbirth: What has been done?” BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth1 (2024): 322.
5. Arachu Castro and Virginia Savage. “Obstetric violence as reproductive governance in the Dominican republic”. Medical Anthropology2 (2018): 123-136.