Respectful maternity care is now globally recognized as a fundamental human right and a key component of quality reproductive health care. It means ensuring that women are treated with dignity, empathy and respect throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the post-partum period. According to the World Health Organization, many women still experience disrespect and mistreatment during childbirth in health-care facilities. Such mistreatment includes forced medical procedures, non-consensual interventions, privacy or confidentiality breaches, verbal and physical abuse, neglect and discrimination based on socioeconomic status, ethnicity or gender identity.
The analysis conducted in this study reveals that 67 per cent of surveyed women across the studied countries (n = 2,616)1 faced at least one form of obstetric mistreatment during labour, including unjustified obstetric procedures without consent, abuse (verbal, physical, sexual), poor interaction with health-care staff, low-quality care and discrimination. Younger women (18–24 years old) are more vulnerable to such treatment compared with women aged 35–46 (78 per cent versus 63.5 per cent reporting mistreatment during childbirth, respectively). Economic vulnerability is another risk factor of obstetric mistreatment, as unemployment is associated with higher rates of reported cases of mistreatment. Single or separated women, who may be deprived of a companion’s support, are also likely to face mistreatment. Educational levels and the type of maternity facility also influence the likelihood of mistreatment during childbirth.
Quality maternal care and the safeguarding of women’s reproductive rights are essential components of public health and the global development agenda. UNFPA, as the leading UN agency dedicated to sexual and reproductive health, plays a major role in advancing these objectives through its commitment to ensuring universal access to maternal health-care services and upholding the rights and dignity of women. UNFPA’s stated mission – “to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled” – reflects this vision, reinforcing the importance of high-quality maternal care and respect for women’s rights in all regions of the world.
Between December 2024 and February 2025, statistical data were collected through the Microsoft Forms online interview platform, capturing the perceptions of women who had given birth regarding their childbirth experience. The research was primarily shared through the amma app (amma.family), a key UNFPA partner and digital pregnancy tracker, which served as the main conduit for data collection. The survey was available in 10 languages: Albanian, Armenian, Bosnian, English, Georgian, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian and Ukrainian. The survey was conducted across the following 16 countries and territories: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kosovo.
The survey targeted women aged 18 to 46 who had at least one child under the age of 6. Following the survey process, a total of 5,319 questionnaires were completed, only 2,616 of which met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the present study. Questionnaires were deemed ineligible if they were completed by respondents residing outside the 16 countries and territories participating in the study or by respondents who did not have children under the age of 6 – a key research sampling criterion
