Geneva,. Switzerland (PANA) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has said Caesarean Section should only be performed when medically necessary in order not to put women and their babies at risk of short- and long-term health problems.
The advisory was contained in a WHO Statement on Caesarean Section Rates based on two studies carried out by the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme for Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction.
Caesarean section is one of the most common surgeries in the world, with rates continuing to rise, particularly in high and middle-income countries.
Although it can save lives, Caesarean Section is often performed without medical need, putting women and their babies at-risk of short- and long-term health problems.
Caesarean Section may be necessary when vaginal delivery might pose a risk to the mother or baby – for example due to prolonged labour, foetal distress, or because the baby is presenting in an abnormal position.
However, Caesarean Sections can cause significant complications, disability or death, particularly in settings that lack the facilities to conduct safe surgeries or treat potential complications.
Due to their increased cost, high rates of unnecessary Caesarean Sections can pull resources away from other services in overloaded and weak health systems.
The lack of a standardised internationally-accepted classification system to monitor and compare Caesarean Section rates in a consistent and action-oriented manner is one of the factors that has hindered a better understanding of this trend. WHO proposes adopting the Robson classification as an internationally applicable Caesarean Section classification system.
The Robson system classifies all women admitted for delivery into one of 10 groups based on characteristics that are easily identifiable, such as number of previous pregnancies, whether the baby comes head first, gestational age, previous uterine scars, number of babies and how labour started.
Using this system would facilitate comparison and analysis of Caesarean rates within and between different facilities and across countries and regions.
