“If your c-section is high that means that you’re not supporting people in labour, that’s just a fact.” - Dr Neel Shah

A cesarean section, or c-section is the most performed major surgery on the planet, it is also the most controversial. In the many years since they have been introduced, mortality and morbidity rates - the rates which this intervention has been introduced to lower, have increased and women are more likely to die in childbirth in this generation, than their mothers.

Today on the show we bring you the insights and experience of Dr Neel Shah, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School. Listed among the “40 smartest people in health care” Dr Shah has written more than 50 peer-reviewed academic papers and contributed to four books, including as senior author of Understanding Value-Based Healthcare (McGraw-Hill).

We talk equity and safety in maternity healthcare and reducing the C-section rate. Some alarming stats alongside lots of hope are in the pot today, grab your notebook and writing apparatus and enjoy the powerful slow cooked gen.

“.. that means, in 2021, the biggest risk factor for a mother anywhere in the world to get a c-section, is not her personal risks or her personal preferences but which hospital she goes to”

“The wellbeing of mothers is the bellwether for the wellbeing of all of us”
“If mothers are unwell, society is unwell”. - Dr Neel Shah

Dr. Neel Shah, MD, MPP, FACOG, is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Delivery Decisions Initiative at Harvard’s Ariadne Labs. As an obstetrician-gynaecologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Dr. Shah cares for patients at critical life moments that range from childbirth to primary care to surgery. As a scientist and social entrepreneur, he is a globally recognised expert in designing solutions that improve health care.
Dr. Shah is also founder of Costs of Care, an NGO that curates insights from clinicians and patients to help delivery systems provide better care. In 2017, he co-founded the March for Moms Association, a coalition of more than 20 leading organisations, to increase public and private investment in the wellbeing of mothers. Dr. Shah currently serves on national advisory boards of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Office of Women’s Health Research at the National Institutes of Health.

Show links:

Find more about Dr Shah here: https://scholar.harvard.edu/shah/home & https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/neel-shah/

Harvard's Ariadne Labs: https://www.ariadnelabs.org/about-us/

March for Mums: https://marchformoms.org

Expecting More: https://www.expectingmore.org

We'd love to hear from you, if you have any questions/comments about this, other interviews or our work at PBB Media, shoot us a line at hello@pbbmedia.org.

Guest: Dr Neel Shah

Produced, edited and presented by Annalee Atia

The Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond show is part of a wider nonprofit community media and journalism project, PBB Media.

All rights reserved.

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Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond comes to you from Bundjalung Country at Cavanbah or Byron Bay and we acknowledge with respect and reverence the Arakwal people of the Bunjulung nation, neighbouring clans and people for caring for this country since time immemorial.