International Midwifery Organizations
The
world is a big place, and midwifery is a part of the dominant culture
in much of the world, more so than in the United States. I would like
to offer links to international midwifery organizations and practices.
You can also find international opportunities to work in midwifery on
the Midwifery Opportunities
page, and practices outside the US in the Midwifery Directory. Please
email me with links to other international midwifery organizations,
practices, or individuals.
Canada
For educational programmes in Canada, see the Education Page.
The Canadian Association of Midwives
is the national, professional association of both individual midwives
across Canada and their professional associations. You will find
information such as the history of midwifery, sumamries of the
midwifery model of care, and contact information for practising
midwives, provincial Colleges of Midwives, and professional midwifery
associations in each province and territory. The site includes a
listing of midwives and midwifery practises across Canada.
Newfoundland and Labrador Midwives’ Association
Midwifery Coalition of Nova Scotia The
Midwifery Coalition believes that midwifery provides the highest
standard of care for mothers, babies and families. We believe it is an
important part of maternity care and is a choice that should be
available to families in Nova Scotia. We are working to have midwifery
accepted as part of Nova Scotia’s health system and to have midwifery
care covered by MSI.
Ministry of Health: Midwifery in Ontario
The College
of Midwives of Ontario is the regulating and governing body for
midwives in Ontario. Tel: (416) 327-0874, Fax: (416) 327-8219, E-mail: admin@cmo.on.ca, Website: coming soon!
The Association of Ontario Midwives
is the professional body representing midwives and the practice of
midwifery in the province of Ontario. It is run by a 12-member Board of
Directors. The AOM advocates for the professional interests of midwives
and for the Ontario Model of Midwifery Care, provides public education
and promotes midwifery as an integral part of the Ontario health care
system, represents midwives to the Ministry of Health to maintain
appropriate funding for midwifery services, provides ongoing peer
support to all members, including educational and professional
development, develops clinical and other practice guidelines and
promotes midwifery research, administers a benefits package, negotiates
and provides access to professional liability insurance for midwife
members, publishes the Association of Ontario Midwives Journal/Journal de l’Association des sages-femmes de l’Ontario, and is an active member in the Canadian Confederation of Midwives and the International Confederation of Midwives.
Government of Manitoba — Information on Manitoba Midwifery
Alberta Association of Midwives
College of Midwives of British Columbia
Midwifery Task Force of British Columbia
United Kingdom
The Royal College of Midwives is the professional midwifery organization in the United Kingdom.
The Association of Radical Midwives
is an organization of midwives, student midwives and others in the UK
committed to improving the maternity care provided by the NHS. They
strongly believe that all women have the right to a service tailored
more closely to their needs, and a sympathetic attitude on the part of
their professional attendants. They are primarily a support group for
people having difficulty in getting or giving good, sympathetic,
personalised midwifery care. A few are working independently outside
the NHS, in order to offer a more woman-centred, one-to-one, style of
practice, which at present is not widely available within NHS maternity
services. There are contacts and/or local groups all around UK, as well
as several overseas members. We are a UK Registered Charity, No.1060525
MIDIRS (Midwives Information and Resource Service).
Their mission is “to be the central source of information relating to
childbirth and to disseminate this information to midwives and others
both nationally and internationally thereby contributing to the
improvement of maternity care.” This is a great site, updated constantly with research, news, and information about midwifery and childbirth.
Switzerland
Federation Suisse des Sages-Femmes is the website for the Swiss federation of midwives. It is offered in three languages, German, French, and Italian.
Austria
Osterreichisches HebammenGremium is the website for the Austrian midwifery association. It is in German.
France
Conseil National de l’Ordre des Sages-femmes is the French midwifery organization. The website is in French.
Le Portail “Naissance”:
Ce portail a vu le jour fin mars 2000 à la suite de discussions sur la
liste francophone “Naissance.” L’idée principale est de dynamiser le
mouvement associatif de parents et accompagnateurs de la naissance,
dans les pays francophones, en mettant gratuitement à sa disposition de
nouveaux outils d’information, de communication et de promotion
disponibles sur Internet. (The “Birth” Gateway: This gateway opened at
the end of March, 2000 following discussions on the francophone email
list “Birth.” The main idea is to strengthen the movement of parents
and childbirth supporters in French-speaking countries by putting
freely at their disposition new tools of communication and promotion
available on the Internet.)
Lettre Ouverte aux Sages Femmes (An Open Letter to Midwives)
par (written by) Andreine Bel: L’auteur s’intéresse à une question
souvent éludée par les parents et sages-femmes sensibilisés au problème
de la surmédicalisation de la naissance: comment pourrait-on redéfinir,
en dehors du système actuel de prise en charge médicale, le rôle et les
compétences des accompagnateurs de la naissance? (The author addresses
a question often overlooked by parents and midwives sensitised to the
problem of routine medical procedures in childbirth: outside the
current system of medical assistance, how could one redefine the role
and competence of birth attendants?) Very thought-provoking…
Italy
NASCITA DOLCE
is the first “BIRTH CENTRE” in Italy: only midwives management!
Reception (for delivery) of the woman in Agriturismo in the Chianti
Area. The charm of a typical Tuscan farm in the heart of the Chianti
region, among the trees of its green garden and cypress hills,
vineyards and olive-trees, one hour by car from the most beautiful
towns of art, history and culture in Tuscany.
Continuity Of Care
Midwifery Services: In June 2000 we open a natural nursery-school for
babies 0 – 6 years (BIOLOGICAL FOOD). We offer safe, affordable,
quality care throughout your pregnancy, including lab work, routine
prenatal visits, and caring communication. Labour and delivery takes
place in a beautiful birthing rooms, in hospital or private clinic.
Sweet Birth also provides annual Well-Woman exams, Pap smears, birth
control and pre-pregnancy counselling all at reasonable rates. Contact:
Antonella Marchi – Via E. De Nicola, 1 – 53100 Siena – Italia, Tel. e
fax. (+39) 0577.333152 cell. 0368-293669
See website at www.nascitadolce.it; in February 2001 in English: www.nascitadolce.com; email: antonellamarchi@nascitadolce.it
Mexico
San Miguel-CASA, Inc.
is an organization in San Miguel, Mexico, with the goals of (1)
empowering young women, helping them increase their self-confidence and
responsibility toward themselves, their families, and their
communities; (2) decreasing the number of unplanned pregnancies,
especially among teenagers; (3) providing equal access to health care,
particularly reproductive health. CASA accomplishes this through a full
range of programs including a Peer Counselor Program, a Youth
Ecological Awareness Team, a Theater Troupe, a Child Development
Center, and the CASA Hospital where 50,000 patients were served in
1999, and about 60 women a month have their babies. Births take place
both in women’s homes and in the cllinic. CASA has a maternity hospital
in San Miguel and Mexico’s first government-recognized midwifery school
(the first class graduated in 2000). For more information, go to www.sanmiguelcasa.org or email Nadine Goodman at casa@unisono.net.mx.
Guatemala
MIDWIVES FOR MIDWIVES & Women’s Health International
“Midwives
For Midwives and Women’s Health International” (MFM), is a
Guatemala-based, U.S. tax-exempt organization that brings together
professionals from the midwifery, anthropology and public health fields
in order to improve women’s reproductive health in Guatemala and create
alliances between midwifery systems to strengthen midwifery worldwide. Its activities include:
1)
Researching traditional midwifery and healing systems. MFM works to
identify and preserve safe and effective traditional methods of
birthing and health care, and to enhance those systems with proven
aspects of bio-medicine.
2) Providing training to traditional midwives to better serve the women’s health needs in their communities.
3) Providing a mechanism to train more North American midwives in providing women’s health care in underdeveloped countries.
4)
Providing integrated women’s health care that is a model of quality,
accessible, comprehensive care through our clinic IXMUCANE in Antigua,
Guatemala.
5)
Providing a forum for intercultural exchange and serves as a channel
for the exchange of knowledge and skills between “modern midwifery” and
traditional midwifery systems, identifying and enhancing universal
midwifery tenets.
We
have an active, working, enthusiastic board from the fields of
midwifery, development, anthropology, ethno-botany, gender and
education. We’re a well-rounded and complementary group. We do have
several (2) positions open on the board for people with writing/PR
skills and fundraising expertise.
We
have accomplished so much in the past 3 years with income generated by
the clinic, supplemented by private funders and several grants. We
continue to seek funding from foundations and funders that share our
interest in improving women’s health. Money for salaries is guaranteed
and we’re actively developing our staff.
The
work with the traditional midwives is very powerful and after 3 years
we have established a close, working relationship with them, helping
them organize to have a voice in effecting national policy. We are
beginning to coordinate our efforts to improve maternity care in rural
communities and demonstrate that the midwifery model is affordable,
effective, and essential. This is a great time for change. Guatemala is
in a process of healing and growth with international interest and
assistance to improve the condition of mothers and children. Midwifery
can be improved and strengthened and community midwifery preserved.
This
project is at a turning point. We’re actively developing our staff and
are creating a membership organization which is called : “Midwives for
Midwives and Women’s Health International ” (MFM for short) dedicated
to creating partnerships to strengthen midwifery and improve women’s
health care.
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP:
1.
We’re inviting founding members to join. If you’re interested in this
project, write us with your snail mail address so we can include you on
our mailing list.
2.
This project needs more staff to provide clinical care. There are 2
positions open and funding for salaries. Please help us recruit more
midwives and move this project into the next level. We’ll be a source
for more training nationally and will be looking for midwives who want
to be directly involved in working with the traditional midwives.
3. Send this notice onto other midwives. See our employment announcement on the Midwifery Opportunities page. Print it out and pass it on in all efficient and appropriate ways.
4. Think about ways in which this project can be fortified and write to us with ideas. We appreciate and need your input.
Thanks for your support and all that you do for women’s health and midwifery. Jenna Houston, CNM, Clinical Director, IXMUCANE