Reducing Unnecessary Cesarean Sections in Bangladesh

Khurshid Talukder from the Centre for Woman and Child Health in Bangladesh will scale-up their proven approach using a package of 11 service interventions, including antenatal counselling and supportive care during labor, to reduce the cesarean section rate across Bangladesh. Bangladesh has an unnecessarily high cesarean section rate, which can have severe short and long-term health consequences for the mother and child. They developed a multi-service intervention to reduce the rate in their own hospital from 65% to 42% over two years. They will hold workshops at six other large maternity units for tailoring the intervention package to local needs, and train managers and maternity personnel to effectively deliver it in their clinics over an 18-month period. They will evaluate the effect of their approach on reducing cesarean section rates.