TITLE:
Regulatory Aspects of (Non)Humanized Normal and Cesarean Deliveries in Brazil
AUTHORS:
Vitória Batista Santos Silva, Wagner Roberto Ramos Garcia Junior, Clayton Vinicius Pegoraro de Araújo, Gabrielle Jacobi Kölling
KEYWORDS:
ANS, Suitable Childbirth Program, Childbirth Care Project, Normal Births, Cesarean Sections
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.9 No.11,
November
29,
2021
ABSTRACT: The topic of humanized childbirth has been gaining a
place among the interests of Brazilian health researchers. Concern over the
preference for cesarean deliveries is leading to an increasingly present
discussion also in international bodies that provide guidelines to health
sectors. This research aims to gather some of the main reasons leading to the
choice of cesarean delivery over normal delivery in Brazil, under the scope of
the National Supplementary Health Agency (ANS) regulation. To this end, recent
studies on the economic impacts of these delivery modes will be reviewed, as
well as an analysis of recent literature on the reasons leading to the choice
of a delivery mode. The legal aspects of ANS regulation of the delivery segment
will be presented, seeking to understand the main aspects of this activity.
Throughout the article, some data regarding the percentage of normal deliveries
and cesarean sections in the period 2000 to 2018 will be explained in order to
illustrate the scenario of this segment in Brazil. Through a qualitative
method, bibliographic research and document analysis, government measures such
as the Suitable Childbirth Program and the Careful Childbirth Project will be
explored, presenting what are the main measures implemented in the search to
reduce the unnecessary number of C-sections in the country, as well as their
correspondence with measures recommended by the World Health Organization
(WHO), which exposes the increase in the number of C-sections as a global
concern. The discussion brings some initiatives of the regulatory agencies of
the sector in Brazil and recommendations to contribute to the formulation of
public policies aimed at stimulating the percentage of normal deliveries. It
was possible to identify in the literature factors such as economic conditions
and the mother’s educational level as related to the choice of type of
delivery, as well as the medical team’s participation in the decision.