HOME BIRTH IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN

Despite the pregnancy complications associated with home births, 30% of births still remain at home as the main place of birth in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Purpose of the study. To study the factors that determine the choice of place of birth in the Balochistan, a province of  the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Materials and methods. At the first stage of the work, a questionnaire was developed - a basic set of questions that allows assessing the obstetric anamnesis and parity of childbirth of the respondents, the place of birth (maternity hospital/ home), the cause of birth at home, methods of preventing postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in case of home birth, complications of the postpartum period. At the second stage, within 2 days, on January 6 and 7, 2023, at the same time, by the method of continuous survey using Google forms, a survey was conducted of 144 women of reproductive age (15-49 years old) permanently residing in the Balochistan, a province of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The data obtained were statistically processed using MS Excel, and r-Pearson correlation analysis was carried out. Results. 25% of those living in Balochistan gave birth at home. More than half of the respondents (55.6%) cited the high cost of delivering in a maternity hospital as the reason they gave birth at home. 33.3% of respondents did not consider it necessary to give birth in a medical institution, due to socio- cultural beliefs, despite the possibility to pay for childbirth in medical institutions. 44.5% of the respondents indicated the remoteness of the location of the medical institution and the lack of transport. The frequency of postpartum hemorrhage during home birth was 8%. Only 63.8% of the respondents had access to misoprostol in the postpartum period. Conclusion. The percentage of women who have access to a birth in a health facility in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, especially in geographically remote and poor provinces, is still low. Antenatal distribution of misoprostol to pregnant women remains one of the reserves for reducing the incidence of postpartum hemorrhage during home births