Hospital births saving babies in China, study says

[doggie]

interesting study.

Published: Sep 15, 2011 8:26 PM

BEIJING (AP) - Researchers have found that encouraging women to giver birth in hospitals has contributed to a sharp decrease in the number of infant deaths in China.

The study released Friday in the medical journal Lancet says newborn deaths fell 62 percent between 1996 and 2008.

It says more babies survived because women were increasingly giving birth in hospitals or clinics.

It says China's experience suggests promoting childbirth facilities is better than having health professionals assist women with labor in their homes.

The joint study was carried out by researchers from Peking University and the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London. It was funded by UNICEF and the China Medical Board, a New York-based non-governmental organization.

[YPestis]

Not surprising. Most women who give birth at home live in rural, poor areas. Transportation is difficult, sanitation is not optimal, and women have little access to professional care. Chinese hospitals, despite their issues, will allow instant access to emergency care, better hgyiene practices and life saving medicine.

My grandfather's first wife died in childbirth giving birth to twins in China. It sounded like she had an obstructed birth. There were no hospitals available at that time, so she and the babies all died. That was so common in those days.

Even today, roads in many rural areas are so difficult to pass that it may take an hour or more to get to a nearby hospital with birthing facility. Plus, many poor rural areas don't have access to clean water or sanitary tools. I guess that's why my parents don't understand why people in this country romanticize the "old days". To them, all it meant was that more people died needlessly......

[Austin]

I guess that's why my parents don't understand why people in this country romanticize the "old days". To them, all it meant was that more people died needlessly......

It's not only your parents, believe me.

[Bellatrix]

It says China's experience suggests promoting childbirth facilities is better than having health professionals assist women with labor in their homes.

I can't be the only who finds this sentence hard to interpret. It seems to suggest that this particular study in China is evidence for hospital births everywhere? How is that even fair a comparison? That would mean that the general situation of China is comparable to that of every other country which is absolutely untrue. I fail to see the logics here. Or perhaps I simply am misunderstanding the entire sentence.

Help, anyone?