The use and misuse of oxytocin: a study in rural Karnataka, India

Introduction Poor quality of care remains key constraint to safe motherhood especially for women from poor families in a context of rapid expansion of maternity healthcare services. In India, deliveries at healthcare institutions have increased in last three years. There is evidence that oxytocin is a drug is often misused to speed labours (childbirth) in overcrowded labour wards or even in home settings. In India this phenomenon has not been extensively studied, especially since the expansion of institutional deliveries. To order to study use of oxytocin, we collected information on drugs administered for labour augmentation as part of a prospective study of pregnancy and childbirth in south India.