Labor Analgesia in Kiev (Ukraine)

Abstract

The problem of a labor pain is becoming very important for health care because insufficient analgesia for women during childbirth affects the quality of medical care. The complexity of the use in the system and approaches to providing care to citizens in Ukraine, and at the local level – the interaction of the obstetrician with the women, anaesthetist and also the technical capabilities of public maternity hospitals [1].
 For the last decade, epidural analgesia has been the «golden» method in labor analgesia. We searched numerous meta-analyzes about pain management during labor and delivery in the United States, they prefer epidural analgesia in 80-90% of women, while in the UK - 36% [2, 3].
 Statistics from around the world indicate a relationship between pain relief and income levels, so in high-income countries, (HICs) women are more likely to be anesthetized during childbirth than in South Africa or Asia [4].
 Although childbirth is a physiological and natural process, it needs pain relief. Nowadays a woman’s desire is a sufficient indication for labor analgesia, and this is her right [5]. The problem is to choose a pharmacological and / or non-pharmacological method of analgesia for a particular woman, which will be best for the parturient.
 It should be noted that there is a separate group of women who choose to give birth at home to reduce the «aggression» of medical staff against women and her child, but they have a higher incidence of complications and increased mortality [6]. «Homebirth» in maternity hospitals helps to solve this problem.
 A comprehensive questionnaire was created among seven state maternity hospitals in Kyiv to identify the current situation with the provision of maternity care and to analyze the main issues of labor analgesia in Kyiv.