Childbirth: Is Pregnant Woman Prepared in India?

Abstract

Pregnancy and child birth is a great event in the life of every woman for which she awaits eagerly. But when faced with the reality of labour and child birth, are women able to cope? Are they prepared to face this exciting event in their life? Preparation for child birth should take place in the antenatal period itself. Systematic child birth education helps the woman to integrate herself physically, mentally and emotionally and enables her face childbirth with confi dence and come out with a happy child birth experience. Midwives and maternity nurses play a vital role in helping pregnant women to overcome their fears and anxieties about labour and childbirth. Th ough the Government of India has outlined guidelines and protocols on birth preparedness and complication readiness, are all women really prepared? Does this information and education reach all the pregnant women? Lack of human resource and consistent education materials contribute to this challenge. Placement of well-trained child birth educators and dissemination of standardised educational materials can address this challenge and enable the women in India to be prepared and confi dently face child birth.