With regard to childbirth, the role of every health-care system is to improve maternity care as well as the birth experience of women and their family members. Despite many efforts to improve maternity care in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the nation's childbirth care still faces a tremendous amount of unnecessary intervention and, consequently, a high rate of cesarean births. This article describes the strengths and weaknesses of Iran's maternity-care system and childbirth education in light of evidence-based practice.
Keywords: childbirth education; health-care environment; maternity care; midwifery.