Respectful Maternity Care
Respectful maternity care is a universal human right of all childbearing women; and it is defined by the WHO (2018) as the care provided to women of all ages that aims to maintain their dignity, safety, support, and right to information regarding their care. With this definition in mind, mother and their newborn children should have access to quality, safe, and inclusive care that does not compromise the mother’s dignity and bodily autonomy.
To know the true value of respectful maternity care, one must recognize disrespectful care which can be categorized into 7 areas: physical abuse, non-consented care, non-confidential care, non-dignified care, discrimination, abandonment or care, and forced detention (Bowser & Hill, 2010 as cited by Homer et al., 2021). This mistreatment of women ultimately leads to women not accessing health services by choice, and this can be magnified by low socioeconomic status and lack of health education.
Maternity care must provide women with the quality care that they need, and this includes safe and respectful care. Women appreciate care that respects and recognizes their culture and values (Shakibazadeh et al., 2018 as cited by Homer et al., 2021). Providing those women of childbearing age with respectful maternity care motivates them to utilize the health services available to them, ensuring that pregnancy-related complications and deaths are prevented.
This problem has been well recognized by the World Health Organization and they have recommended that care for women must maintain their “dignity, privacy and confidentiality, ensures freedom from harm and mistreatment, and enables informed choice and continuous support during labor and childbirth” (WHO, 2018). This seconds the notion that “every woman has the right to the highest attainable standard of health” (Homer et al., 2021).
References:
World Health Organization. (2018, February 7). WHO recommendations: Intrapartum care for a positive childbirth experience. World Health Organization Website; World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241550215
Homer, C., Bohren, M.A., Wilson, A., Vogel, J.P. (2021). Professional care and support before, during and after pregnancy. The Global Library of Women’s Medicine. DOI:10.3843/GLOWM.411763