Experiences of Obstetric Practices in Differing Countries

Abstract

Birth is a drama patterned by the culture of a society and is a focus for values which are significant for that society. In the last 25 years far-reaching changes have taken place in obstetrics. Throughout the Western world, and increasingly in the developing countries, the professionalisation of care, the shift of childbirth out of the home and away from the family and its institutionalisation in large hierarchically and bureaucratically controlled hospitals, with an accompanying surge in technology, are integral parts of the contemporary medical model of birth.