New research from the WOMAN-2 Trial, published in The Lancet Global Health, has found having an episiotomy, a surgical cut to the vagina during childbirth, doubles the risk of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) in women with moderate or severe anaemia,
Postpartum haemorrhage, or severe bleeding after childbirth, is responsible for around 70,000 maternal deaths every year, almost all in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
This new evidence, which shows that episiotomy is an additional risk for severe bleeding in women with anaemia, could better inform routine practices to help prevent life-threatening bleeding and bad outcomes during childbirth.