MEDIA RELEASE Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Rising Caesarean Rate a Threat to Healthy Mothers and Babies

‘More and more caesareans are not making birth safer for either mothers or their babies. It’s time for a national summit to identify the causes of the rising caesarean rate and to find effective ways to turn that around”. Professor Pat Brodie, National President of the Australian College of Midwives said today.

Professor Brodie was responding to the latest Institute of Health and Welfare Report on Australia’s Mothers and Babies 2004 released yesterday which confirms that the rate of caesarean section in Australia continues to rise.

In 2004 the average national rate of caesarean section was 30.2% of mothers giving birth in hospitals, compared with 19.3% in 1995.

The report also shows that rates of spontaneous onset of labour have also dropped dramatically to only 57% of women in 2004. Increasing numbers of women each year are having their labours induced, or not labouring at all before planned caesarean sections.

“Having a Caesarean birth is not a painless or risk free procedure” said Professor Brodie.

“Recent research in the US of 5.7 million births highlights a threefold increase in the risk of neonatal death (1.77 per thousand) for babies born by caesarean section without a medical indication compared to babies born vaginally (0.62 per 1000).”

“Further, the numbers of Australian women dying as a direct result of pregnancy and childbirth has not decreased over the past 15 years despite the jump in caesareans.”

“Yet these latest national statistics show a persistent increase in the numbers of women undergoing major surgery to give birth to their babies. This is a major source of concern to Australia midwives”, Professor Brodie said.

“It’s too easy to blame women themselves for the rising rate of caesarean sections and other medical interventions in Australia. Too often we hear unsubstantiated claims that caesareans are being done simply because women want them. Too often women are being blamed for leaving it too late to start a family”.

“While it is true that the average age of women having their first baby has risen over the past decade, this does not explain the dramatic rise in the use of major surgery to deliver babies over the past 5 to 10 years. Nor does it explain why the healthiest group in our community – women with private health insurance – are undergoing caesareans across all age groups at rates often more than 10% or 15% higher than similar women accessing public hospitals”.

“It is time for all of us involved in providing maternity care – midwives, obstetricians, neonatologists, anaesthetists, health service managers and governments – to come together and identify what factors are driving this dangerous trend and to work together to turn it around in the interests of women and babies.” Professor Brodie said.

“The Australian Health Ministers Council should take the lead in seeing that this happens as a matter of priority”.