Cesarean section (CS) delivery is alarmingly booming in Bangladesh and even is higher than global standard, especially for rising privatisation to increase delivery cost manifold.
According to a report by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), the overall prevalence of CS among Bangladeshi mothers was found to be 3.99 percent in 2004 which jumped to 33.22 percent in 2017-18 - almost eight fold.
This information was disclosed at a seminar organised by the public research organisation, titled “Massive Boom of C-Section Delivery in Bangladesh: A Household Level Analysis (2004-2018)” held on Wednesday at BIDS auditorium in the capital.
This study documented that the CS delivery is massively booming in Bangladesh. It is high time for the proper authorities to implement effective national monitoring measures to put restrictions on the rising number of CS deliveries.
BIDS Research Fellow Dr Md Abdur Razzaque Sarker spoke at the seminar chaired by Director General Dr Binayak Sen.
According to the study, caesarean section delivery rates have been rapidly increasing globally including in Bangladesh. The study tried to assess the national trend of CS deliveries and find out the associated factors in Bangladesh.
BIDS analysed data from the five most recent Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys (BDHS) from 2004 and 2018. A total of 27,328 married women aged 15 to 49 years who had a live birth in the two years preceding the survey were included for this study.
According to the study, the overall prevalence of CS among Bangladeshi mothers was found to be 3.99 percent in 2004 which jumped to 33.22 percent in 2017-18, almost eightfold, although the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that CS rate should not exceed 15 percent of total birth delivery.
The annual percentage changes in C-section delivery were 16.34 percent from 2004 to 2017-18 which is alarming, stated the BIDS study, adding “Although the C-section was high among urban mothers (12 percent in 2004 and 44 percent in 2017-18), rural mothers also utilised CS services alarmingly.”
The annual percentage change of CS delivery was 10 percent among urban mothers while it was 21 percent for rural mothers, it added.
BIDS study said that the overall out-of-pocket cost for C-section delivery was about Tk 20,000 in Bangladesh. The average out-of-pocket cost of CS delivery was highest in private facilities (Tk 21,506) than in public facilities (Tk13,622) while about Tk 16,860 was needed for those who received CS services from NGO facilities in Bangladesh.
A number of factors such as maternal age, maternal and paternal education, working status of the mother, maternal BMI, age at first pregnancy, ANC utilisation, administrative division and wealth status had a significant impact on the growing rate of CS delivery in Bangladesh, BIDS said.