Obstetric violence in Dominican hospitals

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Scenes of violence against women during childbirth occur frequently around the world and result from a larger context of social exclusion and discrimination against women. Maternal deaths abound when health care systems are characterized by the lack of continuum of care, the lack of accountability to women, and the withholding of care. Clinical staff learn to operate within the structural limitations of health care systems by not assuming the responsibility of the continuum of care that each woman needs, and that this discharge of accountability is at the heart of how health professionals can navigate, tolerate, and perpetuate the structure of the system and, in so doing, create the breeding ground for violence against women to occur in health facilities. We need more human rights-based advocacy approaches that protect women in labor when none exist, to monitoring human rights standards, and to creating accountability measures within health systems to prevent violence against women in health facilities, also known as obstetric violence when it involves women during childbirth. To ensure optimal health outcomes, obstetric violence needs to be understood and addressed as a key driver of adverse and inequitable health outcomes, given that it can contribute to differential health outcomes through the provision of substandard care and outright neglect. We need to eliminate obstetric violence to achieve the right to health and health care.

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