Credit: Getty images

For thousands of years, across the world, women tended to give birth in an upright position – whether kneeling as per Cleopatra, using birthing stools and chairs, or squatting.

In fact, squatting can enlarge the pelvic diameter by at least 2.5cm (1in), while working with gravity makes it far easier to give birth.So why do so many women today give birth on their backs?”

There is a generalised ignorance amongst professions and pregnant women about the physiology of birth,” says Janet Balaskas, founder of the Active Birth Centre in the UK, and author of a number of books detailing how mothers can take control of their birth experience.

In 1982, Balaskas published an “active birth manifesto” that became the central tenet of her organisation.

“Throughout the world, and for thousands of years, women have spontaneously laboured and given birth in some form of upright or crouching positions,” the manifesto reads. “Whatever the race or culture… the same upright positions predominate.”

Most women in post-industrial countries are confined to hospital in recumbent positions, Balaskas says. “This practice is illogical, making birth needlessly complicated and expensive, turning a natural process into a medical event and the labouring woman into a passive patient,” she argues.

“No other species adopts such a disadvantageous position at such a crucial time.”

Other experts agree.

In fact, giving birth lying down is a “relatively modern phenomenon”, Hannah Dahlen, professor of midwifery at Australia’s Western Sydney University, wrote in a 2013 op-ed for The Conversation.

Pregnancy as ‘illness

‘It’s only in the past 300 to 400 years that women have been largely giving birth on their backs. They can thank a French man named François Mauriceau.

He claimed that the reclining position would be both more comfortable for the pregnant woman and more convenient for the male physician attending to her (there was already a movement emerging to dispense of midwives and instead have male surgeons present at births).

Mauriceau viewed pregnancy as an illness.

In his 1668 book The diseases of women with child and in child-bed, Mauriceau advised: “The best and surest is to be delivered in their bed, to shun the inconvenience and trouble of being carried thither afterwards.”

However, some scholars argue that the change in birthing position may actually be due to another Frenchman who lived the same time as Mauriceau – King Louis XIV.

” Since Louis XIV reportedly enjoyed watching women giving birth, he became frustrated by the obscured view of birth when it occurred on a birthing stool, and promoted the new reclining position,” wrote Lauren Dundes, a professor of sociology at McDaniel College in Maryland, US, in her 1987 paper on the evolution of birthing positions.

The influence of the king’s policy is unknown, although the behaviour of royalty must have affected the populace to some degree,” she added. “Louis XIV’s purported demand for change did coincide with the changing of the position and may well have been a contributing influence.”

Regardless of how giving women birth on their backs came about, the trend stuck, much to the detriment of their birthing experience.

“Birth has become institutionalised with options such as home birth – which is more conducive for many women wanting a physiological or ‘natural’ birth – declining,” says Balaskas.

Proven by science

The main reason women have given birth in upright positions for so many thousands of years is simple: gravity. A baby has to travel downwards through the birthing canal, and gravity is beneficial to the process.

It has been shown that left to their own devices, women will instinctively lean forward during labour – not backwards – adopting positions such as squatting, leaning forward on their hands and knees, or leaning against a low piece of furniture.

Credit: BBC

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has announced plans to commence a total and indefinite nationwide strike starting at midnight on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, citing the Federal Government’s failure to fully implement key agreements.

In a statement following an Extraordinary National Executive Council (e-NEC) meeting, NARD President Dr. Mohammed Suleiman said the strike, tagged: No Implementation, No Going Back,” is aimed at pressing the government to address several outstanding issues.

These include the reinstatement of five dismissed colleagues, payment of promotion and salary arrears across various health institutions, timely release of funds under the 2026 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), and clearance of long-overdue professional allowances.

The association is also protesting the alleged suspension or scrapping of the agreed Professional Allowance Table (PAT), describing the government’s action as unjustifiable and a threat to doctors’ welfare and the stability of the health sector.

Despite the Federal Government’s recent release of ₦21.3 billion (with additional tranches processed) to clear outstanding allowances of which about 60% of affected doctors have reportedly received alerts NARD maintains that critical demands remain unaddressed.

The group insists the strike will proceed unless there is full implementation of the agreements reached in previous negotiations.

“The responsibility to avert this lies with the Federal Government,” sources close to the association emphasised, warning that partial payments and unfulfilled promises have eroded trust.

Healthcare stakeholders have expressed concern over the potential impact of the strike. Resident doctors form a critical backbone of service delivery in teaching hospitals and federal medical centres across the country.

A shutdown is expected to disrupt emergency care, outpatient services, surgeries, and training programmes, putting additional strain on an already overstretched system and leaving many patients vulnerable.

The development comes amid recurring industrial disputes in Nigeria’s health sector, with NARD previously suspending strikes after signing memoranda of understanding with the government, only for fresh disagreements to arise over implementation.

As of now, neither the Federal Ministry of Health nor the Presidency has issued an official response to the latest announcement, though past statements have highlighted efforts to meet multiple demands and urged dialogue to prevent disruption of essential services.

Patients and the public have been advised to seek updates from their local hospitals and explore alternative care options where possible as the April 7 deadline approaches.

• New Cicada COVID variant detected across US states.

“Cicada” a nickname given to BA.3.2, a COVID-19 variant, is spreading around the world , according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.

Like most other variants, the symptoms of the Cicada variant are the same as those of other COVID-19 variant infections.

According to the CDC, these includes:

Runny or stuffy nose, Fever, Headache, Fatigue, Sneezing, Sore throat,Cough, Muscle pain or body aches Vomiting, Diarrhea, and Changes to the sense of smell or taste.

According to the latest available data from the health authorities, this variant has been spotted in 23 countries and in wastewater from 25 US states.

In November 2024, BA.3.2 popped up in a nose swab of a 5-year-old boy in South Africa, and it looked very different than its parent virus.

It was first picked up in the US last summer, in a traveler from the Netherlands.

In January , the first clinical sample from a sick patient turned out to be BA.3.2.

It appears to be circulating in the US at low levels, although testing has been scaled back since the height of the pandemic, so it may be more widespread than currently known.