has been praised for its successful vaccination programs, including Brazil's H.I.V./A.I.D.S. response programs, providing free medication and prevention programs to all. Brazil also is on of the few countries that provides free gender-affirming care, hormone therapy and surgery through its free healthcare services, making treatment more accessible to many who couldn't otherwise afford it. In addition to having the benefits of S.U.S., Brazilian people can pay for private healthcare that enables access private hospitals and clinics with shorter wait times and more advanced equipment.
One thing that struck me as particularly interesting about Brazilian healthcare, in relation to the nature of our research, is the rate of Caesarean section (C-section) surgeries. First, let's talk about what a C-section is. A C-section is major abdominal surgery where seven different layers of a birthing person's body are horizontally cut through to reach the fetus. The entire process takes, on average, an hour. When a baby is born via C-section in the hospital settings, the birthing person is often not able to hold their baby until they are compeltely stitched back up, a process that takes about 20 to 30 minutes. C-sections are a wonderful saving grace for emergency situations, but many provider-focused and hospital-driven instiutions have pushed C-sections to be the standard of care for birth.
Brazil holds one of the highest C-section rates in the world, with an average of 55% of births taking place as C-sections, compared to the global average of 21%. Even more crazy, Brazil's private hospitals average C-section rates of 80-90%! For comparison, the World Health Organization recomends a rate of 10-15% for countries.
