Tuesday 13 January 2015

Over 50% of pregnant Brazilian women choose Caesareans over natural birth 'to protect their sex lives'

Figures from Brazil's National Health Agency reveal 52 per cent of births are via Caesarean section - almost four times the rate recommended by the World Health Organisation (file picture) 
Figures from Brazil's National Health Agency reveal 52 per cent of births are via Caesarean section - almost four times the rate recommended by the World Health Organisation (file picture) 

A rising number of pregnant women in Brazil are choosing to give birth via Caesarean section to prevent permanent changes to their sex lives.
The South American country's Ministry of Health is launching a crackdown on the so-called 'C-section epidemic' after new figures revealed 52 per cent of births are Caesareans.
The National Health Agency (NAS) figures reveal 84 per cent of these deliveries take place in private hospitals, and are funded by health insurance policies.
In state hospitals, 40 per cent of deliveries are via C-section.The World Health Organisation recommends C-section delivery rates are no higher than 10 to 15 per cent of all deliveries. 
As with all surgery, C-sections carry a certain level of risk - the wound could become infected and the baby could develop breathing difficulties, for example.
The rise in C-sections is being driven by womens' concerns over their sex lives post delivery, and unscrupulous doctors promoting the procedure to EARN MORE in health insurance cases, experts said.
Vera Fonseca, director of the Brazilian Federation of Gynecological Associations, told Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo: 'The Brazilian woman is concerned with her sexuality and fears that giving birth will alter the perineum [the area between the vagina and the anus], which is a myth.' 
In the US, just over 32 per cent of all births are Caesareans, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Arthur Chioro, Brazil's minister of health, called the country's obsession with C-sections a 'public health problem'.
He said: 'The epidemic of Caesareans we see today in this country is unacceptable and there is no other way to treat it than as a public health problem.
'What's normal are normal births.'
Mr Chioro added: 'We cannot accept C-sections performed on the basis of economic power or convenience. 
'There is no justification (whether) financial, technical or scientific, that you can (argue for the) high rate of Caesarean sections in health insurance.'We have to reverse this situation that has developed in the country. The Caesarean epidemic today is unacceptable and there is no way to treat it merely as a public health problem.'
In a bid to crackdown on doctors promoting the procedures to line their own pockets, health bosses now require all medics to inform the government of prenatal information on all births.
And they will now no longer be able to book elective C-sections, only choosing the delivery method after a woman has gone into labour.
Doctors will also be obliged to give patients information of the risks of performing C-sections, International Business Times reports. 
Under the requirements Mr Chioro announced, health insurance companies will have to provide patients with information about the percentage of Caesareans performed by individual doctors and hospitals.
Failure to do so within 15 days will result in large fines. 
The new rules, which take force in six months, will affect the nearly 24 million Brazilian women who have private health plans that cover obstetric services.


Culled from DAILY MAIL

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