WELLINGTON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The number of New Zealand pregnant women who experienced an induction of labor has steadily increased over recent years, from 19.4 percent in 2006 to 26.4 percent in 2018, according to the Ministry of Health on Friday.
The Ministry of Health has published the Induction of Labor in New Zealand: A Clinical Practice Guideline on its website, which provides consistent, evidence-based guidance on induction of labor in the New Zealand context.
The guidance supports health professionals to be confident that their induction of labor recommendation is based on the best evidence available, said a ministry statement.
All health professionals providing pregnancy and birthing care to pregnant women, both in the community and within maternity services, are encouraged to use the guideline to help improve consistency of care, it said.
The guideline also acknowledges that pregnant women "should have the opportunity to make an informed choice and be fully informed about the quality of evidence underpinning a recommendation for an induction of labor," the statement said.
The guideline has gone through the Ministry of Health external maternity clinical guideline appraisal process and has been ratified by the National Maternity Monitoring Group, it said. Enditem
