On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for careful use of caesarean delivery.

Caesarean section is one of the most common surgeries in the world and its rates have continued to rise particularly in high- and middle-income countries.

The WHO said that even though it can save lives, it is often performed without medical need and puts women and their babies at-risk of short- and long-term health problems.

Also, high rates of unnecessary caesarean sections can pull resources away from other services in overloaded and weak health systems.

The organization said that cesarean should only be performed when medically necessary as they are usually extensive and more costly medical procedures. Performing them unnecessarily takes much longer time to heal than normal birthing process.

An ideal rate for caesarean sections has considered between 10 to 15% since 1985 by the international healthcare community.

New studies have shown that the number of maternal and newborn deaths decreases when caesarean section rates rise towards 10%. However, it does not improve mortality rates in countries where high numbers are performed.

The effects of caesarean section on maternal and newborn outcomes such as stillbirths or morbidities like birth asphyxia are still unknown. There is requirement of more research on the impact of caesarean section on women's psychological and social well-being.

The WHO has proposed to adopt the Robson classification as an internationally applicable caesarean section classification system.

The system classifies all women admitted for delivery into one of 10 groups based on characteristics, such as number of previous pregnancies, whether the baby comes head first, gestational age, previous uterine scars, number of babies and how labor started.

According to the WHO, comparison and analysis of caesarean rates within and between different facilities and across countries and regions would be made easier with the help this system.