Caesarean sections among immigrant women with different levels of education. / Keisersnitt blant utenlandsfødte kvinner med ulike utdanningsnivåer.

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown a high incidence of emergency caesarean sections among immigrant women, especially those born in Sub-Saharan Africa, but the risk of planned and emergency caesarean section varies with the mother's level of education. The proportion of women with little or no education is higher among those born in Sub-Saharan Africa and other low- and middle-income countries than those born in Norway. We therefore wanted to investigate the relationship between maternal birthplace, level of education and risk of caesarean section. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The study was based on all births recorded in the Medical Birth Registry of Norway between 2008 and 2017 linked to data from Statistics Norway. Maternal birthplace, divided into four categories, was the exposure variable. The outcome was planned or emergency caesarean section. We used multinomial logistic regression and stratified the analyses by level of education. Norwegian-born women constituted the reference group. RESULTS: Of 572 349 births, immigrant women accounted for 26.6 %. Caesarean sections and emergency caesareans made up 15.1 % and 9.6 % of all births respectively. Norwegian-born women had the highest proportion of planned caesarean sections (5.7 %), while women born in Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest proportion of emergency caesareans (16.3 %). Among women with a higher education, the proportion of emergency caesareans was 8.3 % among Norwegian-born women and 18.1 % among women born in Sub-Saharan Africa (adjusted relative risk 2.41, 95 % confidence interval 2.18 to 2.66). INTERPRETATION: The impact of education level on risk of caesarean section differed between immigrant women and Norwegian-born women.

Association between Maternal Origin, Pre-Pregnancy Body Mass Index and Caesarean Section: A Nation-Wide Registry Study.

AIMS: To explore the association between maternal origin and birthplace, and caesarean section (CS) by pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and length of residence. METHODS: We linked records from 118,459 primiparous women in the Medical Birth Registry of Norway between 2013 and 2017 with data from the National Population Register. We categorized pre-pregnancy BMI (kg/m2) into underweight (<18.5), normal weight (18.5-24.9) and overweight/obese (≥25). Multinomial regression analysis estimated crude and adjusted relative risk ratios (RRR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for emergency and elective CS. RESULTS: Compared to normal weight women from Norway, women from Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia/Pacific had a decreased risk of elective CS (aRRR = 0.57, 95% CI 0.37-0.87 and aRRR = 0.56, 0.41-0.77, respectively). Overweight/obese women from Europe/Central Asia had the highest risk of elective CS (aRRR = 1.42, 1.09-1.86). Both normal weight and overweight/obese Sub-Saharan African women had the highest risks of emergency CS (aRRR = 2.61, 2.28-2.99; 2.18, 1.81-2.63, respectively). Compared to women from high-income countries, the risk of elective CS was increasing with a longer length of residence among European/Central Asian women. Newly arrived migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest risk of emergency CS. CONCLUSION: Women from Sub-Saharan Africa had more than two times the risk of emergency CS compared to women originating from Norway, regardless of pre-pregnancy BMI.

Exploring the consequences of decentralization: has privatization of health services been the perceived effect of decentralization in Khartoum locality, Sudan?

BACKGROUND: The health system of Sudan has experienced several forms of decentralization, as well as, a radical reform. Authority and governance of secondary and tertiary health facilities have been shifted from federal to state levels. Moreover, the provision of health care services have been moved from large federal tertiary level hospitals such as Khartoum Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Jafaar Ibnoaf Hospital (JIH), located in the center of Khartoum, to smaller district secondary hospitals like Ibrahim Malik (IBMH), which is located in the southern part of Khartoum. Exploring stakeholders' perceptions on this decentralisation implementation and its relevant consequences is vital in building an empirical benchmark for the improvement of health systems. METHODS: This study utilised a qualitative design which is comprised of in-depth interviews and qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. The study was conducted between July and December 2015, and aimed at understanding the personal experiences and perceptions of stakeholders towards decentralisation enforcement and the implications on public health services, with a particular focus on the Khartoum locality. It involved community members residing in the Khartoum Locality, specifically in catchments area where hospital decentralisation was implemented, as well as, affiliated health workers and policymakers. RESULTS: The major finding suggested that privatisation of health services occurred after decentralisation. The study participants also highlighted that scrutiny and reduction of budgets allocated to health services led to an instantaneous enforcement of cost recovery user fee. Devolving KTH Khartoum Teaching and Jafar Ibnoaf Hospitals into peripherals with less. Capacity, was considered to be a plan to weaken public health services and outsource services to private sector. Another theme that was highlighted in hospitals included the profit-making aspect of the governmental sector in the form of drug supplying and profit-making retail. CONCLUSIONS: A change in health services after the enforcement of decentralisation was illustrated. Moreover, the incapacitation of public health systems and empowerment of the privatisation concept was the prevailing perception among stakeholders. Having contextualised in-depth studies and policy analysis in line with the global liberalisation and adjustment programmes is crucial for any health sector reform in Sudan.