The World Health Organization (WHO) has published new recommendations on intrapartum care for a positive childbirth experience on Thursday,15th February'18. 

The new guideline complements the 2016 antenatal care (ANC) recommendations.The guideline highlights the importance of woman-centred care to optimize the experience of labour and childbirth for women and their babies through a holistic, human rights-based approach. It introduces a global model of intrapartum care, which takes into account the complexity and diverse nature of prevailing models of care and contemporary practice.

The new WHO guideline includes 56 evidence-based recommendations.These include;

• having a companion of choice during labour and childbirth;
• ensuring respectful care and good communication between women and health providers;
• maintaining privacy and confidentiality;
• and allowing women to make decisions about their pain management, labour and birth positions and natural urge to push, among others.

The new WHO guideline recognizes that every labour and childbirth is unique and that the duration of the active first stage of labour varies from one woman to another. In a first labour, it usually does not extend beyond 12 hours. In subsequent labours it usually does not extend beyond 10 hours.

To reduce unnecessary medical interventions, the WHO guideline states that the previous benchmark for cervical dilation rate at 1 cm/hr during the active first stage of labour (as assessed by a partograph or chart used to document the course of a normal labour) may be unrealistic for some women and is inaccurate in identifying women at risk of adverse birth outcomes.

The guideline emphasizes that a slower cervical dilation rate alone should not be a routine indication for intervention to accelerate labour or expedite birth.

“Many women want a natural birth and prefer to rely on their bodies to give birth to their baby without the aid of medical intervention,” says Ian Askew, WHO Director, Department of Reproductive Health and Research. “Even when a medical intervention is wanted or needed, the inclusion of women in making decisions about the care they receive is important to ensure that they meet their goal of a positive childbirth experience.”

To go the new guideline published by WHO, click here.