In keeping with the WHO guidelines that aim to cut down maternal and infant mortality rates, the Union Health Ministry has taken a significant step to allow ‘birth companions’ to a pregnant woman during child birth at public health facilities.
The companions can be female relatives, and in some cases husbands of the pregnant woman, as per the decision of the Ministry that also aims to provide emotional support to the pregnant woman during deliveries.
Women who have experienced the process of labour may be designated as ‘birth companions’. They are expected to provide continuous one-to-one support to women at the time of delivery, said a health official.
It said the presence of a female relative is a “low-cost” intervention that has proved to be beneficial to women experiencing labour.
“While several measures have been taken up by the ministry over the years to bring down the MMR and IMR, this step signifies India’s commitment under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to further accelerate initiatives with specific focus on quality parameters,” the official added.
Elaborating on the pre-requisites for being a birth companion, the official said it has to be a female relative who has preferably undergone the process of labour. He added that at the facilities where privacy protocols are followed in the labour room, the husband of the pregnant woman can be allowed as a birth companion as well.