TEHRAN - The head of Midwifery Office at the Ministry of Health said on Saturday that Iran still has the highest rate of cesarean section in the world, the Mehr reported.

Farah Babayee, who was making the remarks in a ceremony praising the midwives in the city of Zanjan, said that with a great deal of efforts the rate of c-section delivery has fallen to 50 percent since last year.

The next goal is to have the cesarean births reduced to 46 percent in the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 21, 2015.

Zanjan is located in the northwestern of Iran.

According to World Health Organization, the ideal rate for C-section is between 10 to 15 percent [in a country]; this is while the figure in Iran is many times higher.

The purpose of the Midwifery Office under her leadership, according to Babayee, is to encourage mothers to choose natural birth over c-section.

Cesarean delivery is a surgical procedure used to deliver a baby through an incision in the mother’s abdomen and a second incision in the mother’s uterus. A C-section might be planned ahead of time if the mother develops pregnancy complications or has had a previous C-section.

She also said 203 billion tomans (over $61 million) has been allocated to improving the maternity wards in the state hospitals this year.

Last year alone 470,000 natural births have been reported in Iran, Babayee said.

According to Babayee, there are currently about 20,000 midwives working in the hospitals and medical centers of Iran.