title: Safe Delivery Posts: an intervention to provide equitable childbirth care services to vulnerable groups in Zahedan, Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recently, there has been a shift towards alternative childbirth services to increase access to skilled care during childbirth.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to assess the past 10 years of experience of the first Safe Delivery Posts (SDPs) established in Zahedan, Iran to determine the number of deliveries and the intrapartum transfer rates, and to examine the reasons why women choose to give birth at a Safe Delivery Post and not in one of the four large hospitals in Zahedan.
  
  
  METHODS
  A mixed-methods research strategy was used for this study. In the quantitative phase, an analysis was performed on the existing data that are routinely collected in the health-care sector. In the qualitative phase, a grounded theory approach was used to collect and analyse narrative data from in-depth interviews with women who had given birth to their children at the Safe Delivery Posts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women were selected from two Safe Delivery Posts in Zahedan city in southeast Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nineteen mothers who had given birth in the Safe Delivery Posts were interviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the 10-year period, 22,753 low-risk women gave birth in the Safe Delivery Posts, according to the records. Of all the women who were admitted to the Safe Delivery Posts, on average 2.1% were transferred to the hospital during labour or the postpartum period. Three key categories emerged from the analysis: barriers to hospital use, opposition to home birth and finally, reasons for choosing the childbirth care provided by the SDPs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Implementing a model of midwifery care that offers the benefits of modern medical care and meets the needs of the local population is feasible and sustainable. This model of care reduces the cost of giving birth and ensures equitable access to care among vulnerable groups in Zahedan.
authors.affiliation: Pregnancy Health Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Science, Midwifery Department, Nursing and Midwifery School, Mashahir Square, Zahedan, Iran. Electronic address: moudi@zaums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Moudi
authors.affiliation: Department of Demography & Population Studies, Faculty of Social Science, University of Tehran, Tehran 14395-773, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmood
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghazi Tabatabaie
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistic and Epidemiology, Zahedan University of Medical Science, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mahdi Tabatabaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: AbouAli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vedadhir
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006700:Home Childbirth / Q000941:ethics* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008880:Midwifery / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D011247:Pregnancy; D035862:Vulnerable Populations
keywords: Access; Birth centre; Birth costs; Maternal care