International Midwifery articles from December 2008

International Midwifery archives from December 2008

ICM President Bridget Lynch sends 'greetings to the midwives of the world'.
December 1, 2008... As 2009 begins, this message will consider the MDG goals 4 and 5 and the work the ICM is doing to achieve them. I am reviewing our commitments, but also outlining the global initiatives which the ICM is supporting, to give you an overview of...

Interim ICM Board member for South American region.(News from ICM and partners)(International Confederation of Midwives, Alicia Beatriz Cillo)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... On behalf of the ICM, we announce that midwife Alicia Beatriz Cillo was nominated as interim Board member of the ICM to represent the South American region. The nomination of Ms. Cillo was supported by the majority of the Member...

'A passionate global advocate for women'.(News from ICM and partners)(Saraswathi Vedam)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... ICM President Bridget Lynch has drawn attention to a prestigious award for a midwife in Bridget's home country of Canada: an Honorary Doctorate has been given to midwife Saraswathi Vedam, Director of the Division of Midwifery at the University...

New discussion forum on midwifery, reproductive and women's health education.(News from ICM and partners)
December 1, 2008... An e-mail based forum for discussion on midwifery, reproductive and women's health education has been established by members of the ICM Education Standing Committee (ESC). It aims to create a international network of educators who are eager to...

ICM Global Outreach meeting with members.(News from ICM and partners)(International Confederation of Midwives)
December 1, 2008... In November 2008, the city of The Hague, in the Netherlands, was the focus of two activities aimed to address maternal mortality worldwide. The ICM Executive and senior staff met on 24 and 25 November with representatives from the American...

Parliamentary 'Action on Maternal & Newborn Health'.(News from ICM and partners)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... On Wednesday 26 November, in The Hague, ICM representatives Marian van Huis, Agneta Bridges, Nester Moyo and Abigail Kyei all participated in a meeting in which parliamentarians joined representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO)...

'Midwifery in the Philippines: 'a laudable service' but there are issues and challenges: Alice de la Gente, former President of the Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines (IMAP), wrote about midwives' key healthcare role in this country.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ICM learned with great sadness of Alice de la Gente's death in November 2008. Alice was President of the ICM 1996-1999, and played a major part in hosting the 1999 Manila Congress. This article was written by Alice...

International Council on Women's Health Issues (ICOWHI) Conference held in Gabarone, Botswana, 9-11 July, 2008.
December 1, 2008... With the theme of 'Women's health across the lifespan--the girl child: safety, health and development', the 17th conference of ICOWHI was hosted by the School of Nursing, University of Botswana. Formed in 1983, the mission of ICOWHI is to...

Meeting the ICM Board: new and re-elected members form a dynamic group: June 2008 saw the establishment of an enhanced governance structure for the ICM: here some of the new Board members introduce themselves.
December 1, 2008... When ICM Council voted for its present constitution, the Board took on a new look. It is now led by a President, Vice-President and member with financial portfolio (who form a smaller Executive Committee) with support from other members elected...

Midwifery was widely celebrated in 2008--worldwide, and in countries' own special ways: this round-up concludes the reports from ICM members or local news sources on the International Day of the Midwife, and adds news of some additional activities.(International Confederation of Midwives)
December 1, 2008... Jamaica The Jamaica Midwives Association took the opportunity of the International Day of the Midwife on May 5 to honour four surviving founding members of the association. At a reception in Kingston, past president Gwendolyn...

National Midwifery Week in the USA: midwives commit to being 'with women, for a lifetime': Melissa Garvey of the American College of Nurse Midwives describes some of the activities organised during 5-11 October, 2008, to promote midwifery.
December 1, 2008... Midwives across the United States raised awareness of midwifery during National Midwifery Week, held this year October 5-11. From pizza parties to poetry readings, the celebrations were as diverse as the profession of midwifery, but each event...

Changing practice with evidence--'active management of the third stage of labour': the Nursing & Midwifery Community for Making Pregnancy Safer, part of the Global Alliance for Nursing & Midwifery, held a virtual global discussion on AMTSL.(active management of the third stage of labour)
December 1, 2008... The Nursing and Midwifery Community for Making Pregnancy Safer and the Parteria y Enfermeria para una Maternidad Segura Community sponsored a virtual global discussion forum on changing practice with evidence, 30 September-10 October, 2008. The...

'Primary Health Care: Now More Than Ever'--the 2008 World Health Report.(Worldwide news)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The World Health Organization (WHO) marked, in September 2008, 30 years since the Declaration of Alma-Ata proposed primary health care as guidelines for health development: a set of values, principles and approaches...

Global Campaign for Health Millenium Development Goals First Year report 2008.(Worldwide news)
December 1, 2008... The Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals was established in September 2007 to bring together the actions and initiatives on health pledged by world leaders eight years ago to meet the MDGs #4, 5 and 6. This First Year...

Midwife-led care beneficial compared with other models for childbearing women.(Worldwide news)
December 1, 2008... A Cochrane Collaboration review published in October 2008 confirms that midwife-led care confers benefits for pregnant women and their babies and is recommended. The review, co-authored by Professor Jane Sandall, former co-chair of the ICM...

Launch of the Global Library of Women's Medicine.(Worldwide news)
December 1, 2008... The Global Library of Women's Medicine (GLOWM)--a 'comprehensive reference to current clinical practice for clinicians--was launched online on 21 November 2008 and is accessible to all free of charge. Over 650 world experts have provided a...

'Better statistics for better health for pregnant women and their babies': the Euro-Peristat Project.(Worldwide news)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The European Perinatal Health Report 2008 is a comprehensive analysis of fetal, infant and maternal health data in Europe and the first to bring together information from 25 EU countries and Norway. The data...

Human resources for maternal health: multi-purpose or specialist?(Worldwide news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... This pertinent question formed the title to an article in Human Resources for Health by midwife consultant Della Sherratt and Vincent Fauveau and Luc de Bemis of UNFPA. Can the aim to attain MDG5 be achieved faster with the scaling up of...

'A group frankly biased towards women': WHO round table on MDG5.(Worldwide news)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On 25 September, Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, convened a gathering of women leaders to examine the stubborn issues of maternal mortality and universal access to reproductive health. The Round Table with...

Making Pregnancy Safer 2007.(Worldwide news)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHO's Department of Making Pregnancy Safer (MPS) aims to strengthen support to countries to improve maternal and newborn health by: strengthening advocacy, technical support, monitoring, surveillance and evaluation...

'Report Card' from UNICEF brings some hope.(Worldwide news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... A new report from UNICEF, released in September, highlights the risks of pregnancy and childbirth for women in developing countries. Progress for Children: A Report Card on Maternal Mortality confirms that over 99% of maternal deaths occur in...

New midwifery journal.(Worldwide news)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Birthspirit Midwifery Journal is a new, 72-pp, peer reviewed, quarterly publication of midwifery research, literature reviews, practice stories and photographic essays. Contact the Editor, Maggie Banks at...