Caesarean section is a necessary practice to save lives at birth, but in no case an option to choose. According to WHO, the cesarean section rate should not exceed 15% of deliveries, however in Brazil the figure rises to 52%, thus rising with the title of the country with the most caesarean sections in the world.
The data is alarming, but more so is that of private clinics, where 83% of babies are born by caesarean section and in some cases the index reaches 90%. This way of giving birth has become a norm among Brazilian women, who in many cases even demonize vaginal birth.
Of course, such a percentage of caesarean sections is not normal. They are unjustified caesarean sections in most cases. But what fails in a country where almost all women want to give birth in this way?
It seems to be the sum of several factors. Big mistakes in the regulation of the health system, that professionals for financial reasons have stopped recommending normal deliveries, and above all, a great lack of information on the subject.
Women do not receive quality information about the advantages and disadvantages of both types of birth. The lack of information, and misinformation in many cases, causes women to take root wrong beliefs about the convenience of caesarean section on vaginal birth.
They believe, for example, that normal childbirth causes a woman's vagina to become very large and therefore sexually inadequate. This is more worrying than the risks of a surgical intervention such as caesarean section in the short and long term, both for the mother and the baby. Simply because they do not know these risks.
Caesarean section is no longer an emergency practice to become a business. It is faster, more comfortable, gives less work and leaves more money. They are needed in Brazil, and in many countries in Latin America where the rate of caesarean sections are also very high, policies directed towards the humanization of childbirth, effective information measures and making it more profitable for institutions to bet on a normal birth.
In Spain, the caesarean section rate is around 24% (in private healthcare more), which is not small, which indicates that there is still much to do to avoid unnecessary caesarean sections, but we are far from the epidemic of Brazil, the country with the most caesarean sections in the world.
