Birthing in the Arab region: translating research into practice

The Choices and Challenges in Changing Childbirth research network is a regional collaboration among 4 countries in the Arab region, namely Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Syrian Arab Republic, providing evidence of childbirth practices and identifying areas amenable to change. Studies that have been conducted in the region pinpoint problems in the quality of maternity services and a lack of women's involvement in the process of maternity care. The network aims to change childbirth practices by selecting research areas most likely to influence practices, by supporting the process of obtaining regionally relevant evidence of a high standard and by assigning importance to dissemination and networking activities. This paper draws on the experience of the network in selecting strategies to approach different challenges and discusses the barriers facing this process

Patterns of antenatal care in low-versus high-risk pregnancies in Lebanon

We studied patterns of antenatal care in low- versus high-risk pregnancies in Lebanon comparing 538 women after delivery in urban Beirut with rural Baka'a. Most women had 9 antenatal care visits with an obstetrician, starting in the first trimester. Care for high-risk and low-risk pregnancies was similar in terms of type of provider, number of visits and timing of first visit. More high-risk women had advice about special diets, supplements and laboratory tests. Maternal and fetal outcomes showed that, controlling for area and pregnancy risk, more antenatal visits were associated with fewer preterm deliveries, more caesarean sections and fewer cases of postpartum depression. Overall, differences between risk groups were small