Violence

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Obstetric violence, mistreatment of women during childbirth, respectful maternal and newborn care

Arab countries

• Reproductive Health
  • Women's experiences throughout the birthing process in health facilities in Arab countries: a systematic review [2022]

Argentina

• Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
  • Obstetric violence: a new framework for identifying challenges to maternal healthcare in Argentina [2016]

Brazil

• Ciência & Saúde Coletiva
  • Epidemiology of obstetric violence: a narrative review of the Brazilian context [2024]
  • The cheapest meat on the market is black meat: notes on racism and obstetric violence against Black women [2023]
  • Disrespect and abuse, mistreatment and obstetric violence: a challenge for epidemiology and public health in Brazil [2022]

• Lancet Regional Health – Americas
  • The effect of obstetric violence during childbirth on breastfeeding: findings from a perinatal cohort "Birth in Brazil" [2023]

Canada

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Weight-based disparities in perinatal care: quantitative findings of respect, autonomy, mistreatment, and body mass index in a national Canadian survey [2024]

Chile

• Medwave
  • Stakeholders' perceptions of humanized birth practices and obstetric violence in Chile: A scoping review [2020]

China

• BMC Nursing
  • Prevalence of workplace violence in Chinese obstetric nurses under the new situation and its correlation with violence prevention knowledge-attitude-practice and climate perception: a cross-sectional study [2023]

Colombia

• PLoS ONE
  • Humanized childbirth in Colombia: Prevalence and associated factors [2025]

Ecuador

• BMC Public Health
  • Unveiling the intersection: exploring obstetric violence in the Era of COVID-19 in Ecuador [2023]

• BMC Women's Health
  • Social inequalities in women exposed to obstetric and gyneco-obstetric violence in Ecuador: a cross-sectional study [2022]

• Healthcare
  • Investigating Obstetric Violence in Ecuador: A Cross-Sectional Study Spanning the Last Several Years [2024]

Ethiopia

• BioMed Research International
  • Disrespect and Abuse during Childbirth in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review [2020]

• PLoS ONE
  • The prevalence of respectful maternity care during childbirth and its determinants in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis [2022]

• Reproductive Health
  • Toward consensus: a Delphi study on the core principles and indicators of respectful maternity care [2025]

Europe

• European Association of Perinatal Medicine
  • European Association of Perinatal Medicine (EAPM), European Board and College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (EBCOG), European Midwives Association (EMA). Joint position statement: Substandard and disrespectful care in labour - because words matter [2024]

• European Commission
  • Obstetric violence in the European Union: Situational analysis and policy recommendations [2024]
  • Case studies on obstetric violence: experience, analysis, and responses [2024]

• European Parliament
  • Obstetric and gynaecological violence in the EU - Prevalence, legal frameworks and educational guidelines for prevention and elimination [2024]

• International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics
  • Experiences of disrespect and abuse during childbirth in the World Health Organization European region: A mixed-method study among 22 countries [2026]

• International Planned Parenthood Federation
  • Gynaecological and Obstetric Violence [2022]

Ghana

• Frontiers in Public Health
  • Abuse and humiliation in the delivery room: Prevalence and associated factors of obstetric violence in Ghana [2023]

High-income countries

• Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica
  • Prevalence of obstetric violence in high-income countries: A systematic review of mixed studies and meta-analysis of quantitative studies [2025]

• Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
  • Obstetric violence in the United States and other high-income countries: an integrative review [2023]

India

• Journal of Postgraduate Medicine
  • Respectful maternity care during childbirth in India: A systematic review and meta-analysis [2020]

• Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
  • The nature of obstetric violence and the organisational context of its manifestation in India: a systematic review [2021]

International

• BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
  • Respectful care during childbirth in health facilities globally: a qualitative evidence synthesis [2018]

• BMC Public Health
  • Women's reported experience of respectful maternity care measures worldwide: a systematic review [2026]

• BMJ Global Health
  • WHO/HRP special supplement on understanding mistreatment of women during childbirth to improve quality of care [2022]

• Frontiers in Public Health
  • Addressing obstetric violence: a scoping review of interventions in healthcare and their impact on maternal care quality [2024]

• Health and Human Rights Journal
  • Operationalizing a Human Rights-Based Approach to Address Mistreatment against Women during Childbirth [2020]
  • International Human Rights and the Mistreatment of Women during Childbirth [2016]

• Hypatia
  • “Obstetric Violence,” “Mistreatment,” and “Disrespect and Abuse”: Reflections on the Politics of Naming Violations During Facility-Based Childbirth [2023]

• International Confederation of Midwives
  • Obstetric Violence, Mistreatment, and Violence Against Women in Reproductive Health Services

• International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics
  • Ethical Framework for Respectful Maternity Care During Pregnancy and Childbirth [2021]

• International Federation of Medical Students Associations
  • IFMSA Policy Document on Obstetric Violence and Humanized Birth [2023]

• International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics
  • Global prevalence and risk factors of obstetric violence: A systematic review and meta-analysis [2025]
  • Emerging human rights standards on obstetric violence and abuse during childbirth [2025]

• Journal of Advanced Nursing
  • Maternity Care Providers Perspectives and Experiences of Obstetric Violence in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries: An Integrative Review [2026]

• Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
  • Obstetric violence prevalence and risk factors: an umbrella review [2025]

• Nursing & Health Sciences
  • A Systematic Review of Obstetric Mistreatment Among Women Living With HIV [2026]

• Nursing Reports
  • Factors Associated with Obstetric Violence Implicated in the Development of Postpartum Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review [2023]

• Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
  • 'Everything is Obstetric Violence Now': Identifying the Violence in 'Obstetric Violence' to Strengthen Socio-legal Reform Efforts [2024]

• PLoS Medicine
  • The Mistreatment of Women during Childbirth in Health Facilities Globally: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review [2015]

• Reproductive Health
  • Operationalizing respectful maternity care at the healthcare provider level: a systematic scoping review [2021]
  • Effectiveness of respectful care policies for women using routine intrapartum services: a systematic review [2018]

• Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem
  • Obstetric violence in the daily routine of care and its characteristics [2018]

• Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
  • Ending the abuse: the human rights implications of obstetric violence and the promise of rights-based policy to realise respectful maternity care [2019]

• United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
  • Report on a human-rights based approach to mistreatment and obstetric violence during childbirth [2019]

Iran

• Reproductive Health
  • Designing a respectful maternity care guideline: a multiphase study [2022]

Italy

• La Clinica Terapeutica
  • Obstetric Violence in Italy: From Theoretical Premises to Court Judgments [2024]

Kenya

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • The effect of a multi-component intervention on disrespect and abuse during childbirth in Kenya [2015]

Latin America and the Caribbean

• Reproductive Health
  • Measuring mistreatment of women during childbirth: a review of terminology and methodological approaches [2017]

Lebanon

• United Nations Population Fund
  • Mistreatment, disrespect, and violence practices in obstetric care in Lebanon: A right-based approach research [2023]

Low and middle income countries

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Factors influencing respectful perinatal care among healthcare professionals in low-and middle-resource countries: a systematic review [2024]

• BMJ Global Health
  • Mistreatment of women during childbirth and postpartum depression: secondary analysis of WHO community survey across four countries [2023]

Low-income countries

• Women's Health
  • Overcoming barriers and harnessing facilitators: Respectful maternity care in least-developed countries - a systematic review [2026]

Malawi

• Midwifery
  • Perceptions and predictors of respectful maternity care in Malawi: A quantitative cross-sectional analysis [2022]

Nepal

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Mistreatment during childbirth and postnatal period reported by women in Nepal -a multicentric prevalence study [2022]

Netherlands

• Reproductive Health
  • Disrespect and abuse during labour and birth amongst 12,239 women in the Netherlands: a national survey [2022]

• Violence Against Women
  • The Undercommons of Childbirth and Their Abolitionist Ethic of Care. A Study into Obstetric Violence Among Mothers, Midwives (in Training), and Doulas [2023]

Nigeria

• SSM - Population Health
  • “By slapping their laps, the patient will know that you truly care for her”: A qualitative study on social norms and acceptability of the mistreatment of women during childbirth in Abuja, Nigeria [2016]

Palestine

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • The association between labor companionship and obstetric violence during childbirth in health facilities in five facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory [2023]

Peru

• Revista Peruana de Ginecología y Obstetricia
  • Violence against women in the obstetric care setting [2022]

Republic of Guinea

• Reproductive Health
  • Perceptions and experiences of the mistreatment of women during childbirth in health facilities in Guinea: a qualitative study with women and service providers [2017]
  • A qualitative study of women’s and health providers’ attitudes and acceptability of mistreatment during childbirth in health facilities in Guinea [2017]

South Africa

• South African Crime Quarterly
  • Eliminating abusive 'care': A criminal law response to obstetric violence in South Africa [2015]

Spain

• Enfermería Clínica (English Edition)
  • Obstetric violence during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Spain: A descriptive study [2025]

• International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
  • Obstetric Violence from a Midwife Perspective [2023]
  • Obstetric Violence in Spain (Part III): Healthcare Professionals, Times, and Areas [2021]
  • Obstetric Violence in Spain (Part II): Interventionism and Medicalization during Birth [2020]
  • Obstetric Violence in Spain (Part I): Women’s Perception and Interterritorial Differences [2020]

• Journal of Personalized Medicine
  • Factors Associated with Postpartum Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Following Obstetric Violence: A Cross-Sectional Study [2021]

Sub-Saharan Africa

• BMC International Health and Human Rights
  • Disrespect and abuse of women during the process of childbirth at health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis [2020]

• Maternal and Child Health Journal
  • Experiences of Health Facility Childbirth in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Evidence [2022]

• Midwifery
  • A landscaping review of interventions to promote respectful maternal care in Africa: Opportunities to advance innovation and accountability [2022]

• Reproductive Health
  • Midwives’ perspectives on (dis)respectful intrapartum care during facility-based delivery in sub-Saharan Africa: a qualitative systematic review and meta-synthesis [2019]

Türkiye

• International Journal of Caring Sciences
  • Silent Scream Obstetric Violence [2023]

United Kingdom

• Social Science & Medicine
  • 'My doctor just called me a good girl and I died a bit inside': From everyday misogyny to obstetric violence in UK fertility and maternity services [2024]

United States

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
  • Respectful Maternity Care [2024]

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • An exploration of perinatal healthcare providers' perspectives on respectful maternity care in the United States: a scoping review [2025]

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Vital Signs: Maternity Care Experiences — United States, April 2023 [2023]

• JAMA Network Open
  • Disparities in Mistreatment During Childbirth [2024]

• Reproductive Health
  • Examining respect, autonomy, and mistreatment in childbirth in the US: do provider type and place of birth matter? [2023]

• Seminars in Perinatology
  • Supporting patient autonomy through respectful labor and childbirth healthcare services [2025]

West Africa

• BMJ Global Health
  • Comparing observed occurrence of mistreatment during childbirth with women's self-report: a validation study in Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria [2023]
  • Vaginal examinations and mistreatment of women during facility-based childbirth in health facilities: secondary analysis of labour observations in Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria [2022]

WHO

• World Health Organization
  • Compendium on respectful maternal and newborn care [2025]
  • The prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during childbirth [2014]

WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region

• Frontiers in Global Women's Health
  • Exposing Obstetric Violence in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: A Review of Women's Narratives of Disrespect and Abuse in Childbirth [2022]

{Related topics}

• Topic
  • Violence against women, gender-based violence
  • Violence
  • Intimate partner violence during pregnancy