Development of and Resource
Allocation for Midwifery and Reproductive Health
The International Confederation of Midwives believes that midwives, through their close association with women and their families, are in a unique position to know the reality of their health care needs and to define the resources required for the provision of quality services in consultation with women.
All women in their reproductive years should have access to a midwife in pregnancy, childbirth and the early postpartum period. The access may also extend from early childhood to post menopause.
Within a country, midwives should be represented on committees at all levels established to develop policies and strategic plans to address issues concerned with the reproductive health of women of all ages, but especially those linked to the achievement of Safe Motherhood.
Midwives based in clinical settings should be called upon to contribute to the decision making process applied to the allocation of limited financial resources for their service at local and national level. In partnership with their colleagues from other disciplines, they should strive to achieve an equitable distribution of those resources, so as to address the needs of most women seeking/requiring care.
Member Associations are urged to take initiatives which encourage governments, health care agencies and non-governmental organisations to accept this policy as the basis for their own decision making process.
- Mother Baby Package: Implementation of Safe Motherhood in Countries,
1994, WHO.
- Definition of Reproductive Health, International Conference on Population and Development, 1994
- World Health Assembly, Resolution Strengthening Nursing and Midwifery, 1996.
Supersedes ICM Statement:
Policy Making & Resource Allocation 93/12
Adopted by the
International Confederation of Midwives Council,
Date for review: 2005.