Every year, at least 40 million women are likely to experience a long-term health problem caused by childbirth, according to a new study published in The Lancet Global Health. It further says that a majority of the approximately 140 million new mothers every year do not have a morbidity in the six weeks after birth. However, many women, even if they have an uncomplicated vaginal birth without interventions, will have a postpartum complication.

Part of a special series on maternal health, the study reveals the high burden of post-natal conditions that persist in the months or even years after giving birth. These include pain during sexual intercourse (dyspareunia), affecting more than a third (35 per cent) of postpartum women, low back pain (32 per cent), anal incontinence (19 per cent), urinary incontinence (8-31 per cent), anxiety (9-24 per cent), depression (11-17 per cent), perineal pain (11 per cent), fear of childbirth (tokophobia) (6-15 per cent) and secondary infertility (11 per cent).