Reduction of inequities of access to appropriate childbirth care in Rede Cegonha

Abstract

This article compares the findings of “Avaliação da Rede Cegonha” (ARC – Stork Network Assessment), an evaluative study on the Rede Cegonha (RC – Stork Network) program, with Nascer no Brasil (NB – Born in Brazil), a national survey on labor and birth, conducted in 2011-12, before the start implementation of RC. ARC was conducted in 2017, in 606 maternity hospitals involved in RC and NB included a sample with national representation of 266 hospitals. In the current analysis, we included the 136 SUS hospitals that participated in both studies, totaling 3,790 and 12,227 puerperal women. We perform comparisons of best practices and interventions in the management of labor and delivery using Pearson’s chi-square test for independent samples. The prevalence of best practices was, on average, 150% higher in ARC than in NB, with a greater relative increase in less developed regions, for older, brown and black women and less educated. Regarding interventions, there was an average reduction of 30% between NB and ARC, with a greater relative reduction in less developed regions and less educated women. There was a significant improvement in the scenario of care for labor and childbirth, with a reduction in regional, educational and racial inequalities in access to appropriate technologies, suggesting that the RC intervention was effective.