Childbirth care: contributing to the debate on human development.

This study aimed to evaluate care during childbirth and neonatal development in the interior of São Paulo in order to support managers responsible for formulating public policies on human development and allocating public resources to the women's healthcare. This epidemiological study focused on the evaluation of health services based on the observation of the assistance delivered by the Single Health System in 12 maternities and 134 delivers. The Brazilian Health Ministry or World Health Organization standards were adopted for comparison. The results revealed problems related to the structure of some maternities, where some well-proven practices in normal childbirth are still little used, whereas other prejudicial or ineffective ones are routinely used. Reversing this picture is essential in order to offer humanized quality care to women with consequent reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality rates, in such a way that the region achieves the millennium goals established for improving human development.