The International Day of the Midwife - 5 May 2003
Midwives lead the way!
Using leadership skills to enhance midwives' input
to policy decisions on maternal and neonatal health
The ICM is committed to promoting leadership within midwifery and encouraging midwives to take the lead in initiatives to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies:
ˇ Midwives are experts in normal childbirth and take a pivotal role in the care of healthy women and newborns
ˇ Midwives knowledge, skills and experience are essential components of health policies on maternal and neonatal health
ˇ Midwives active contribution to the development of such policies is increasingly needed and valued
ˇ To ensure the credibility of their contributions, midwives who represent the profession in policy-making will acquire and maintain skills in leadership capacity; advocacy; negotiation; use and presentation of statistics and other data; and drafting of protocols and policies
The ICM's International Council meeting in Vienna in 2002 heard feedback from frontline workers, urgent issues for discussion and pleas for support in a struggle for recognition from midwives in over 50 countries. It is clear that in many areas there are not enough midwives, they lack professional status or their voices are not being heard. This means that women and babies are not receiving the appropriate and dedicated care that they need. If midwives lead the way in shaping policy, then care will be centred on women - where it belongs.
ICM has adopted new policies to assist midwives taking policy forward in their own countries, e.g:
ˇ The Essential Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice - designed as guidelines for those developing midwifery education, and information for those in government and other policy arenas who need to understand who a midwife is, what a midwife does, and how the midwife is educated
ˇ A Framework for Midwifery Legislation and Regulation - a policy proposal to establish guidelines for the development of regulatory standards to enable member associations to achieve regulatory processes appropriate for the practice of midwifery in their country.
ˇ Ethical Recruitment and Retention of Midwives - a recognition of the movement of midwives worldwide with recommended principles for employers, managers and educators
ˇ A number of position statements on important aspects of midwifery practice including Appropriate Maternity Services for Normal Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Postnatal Period; The Promotion of Vaginal Delivery in preference to Caesarean Section; and Exclusive Breastfeeding and HIV Infection - all these confirm global support for midwives protecting a low-intervention style of care for healthy women and newborns
ICM member associations and midwives everywhere are encouraged to use these documents as they -
Take the lead in celebrating midwifery on the International Day of the Midwife!
Member associations needing copies of the IDM poster should contact ICM HQ as soon as possible.
Further notes:
The ICM
The ICM is a Confederation of 83 national midwifery associations from 70 countries, founded in 1919. It aims to 'advance world-wide the aims and aspirations of midwives in the attainment of improved outcomes for women in their childbearing years, their newborn and their families wherever they reside.
The International Day of the Midwife (IDM)
Midwives around the world celebrate the 'International Day of the Midwife' on May 5 each year. The ICM established the idea of an 'International Day' following discussion among member associations in the late 1980s, then launched the initiative formally in 1992. Thus May 5, 2003, will be the 12th International Day of the Midwife.
The aim of the day overall is to celebrate midwifery and to bring awareness of the importance of midwives' work to as many people as possible. This is achieved in different ways according to what works best in each country. Examples of ways in which midwifery associations mark the day include:
ˇ Holding a meeting, workshop or conference to hear about new developments in midwifery and exchange news with other midwives in the region
ˇ Giving awards to individual or groups of midwives for special pieces of work
ˇ Organising a street parade and rally in a public place
ˇ Setting up stalls in a market or meeting place to publicise midwifery services and to offer information and advice
ˇ In countries where midwifery is well established, raising money to help midwives overseas where extra resources are greatly needed (for example buying bicycles for midwives' transport in remote areas, or sponsoring a midwife to attend an important conference).
The IDM is an occasion for every individual midwife to think about the many others in the profession, to make new contacts within and outside midwifery and widen the knowledge of what midwives do for the world.
The triennial theme is:
Leadership and key partnerships in midwifery actions achieve improved health for mothers and newborns'
Contacts
For more information about the ICM and its current work, or a contact for a national midwifery association in your country, please contact the ICM:
Website: www.internationalmidwives.org
e-mail: info@internationalmidwives.org
telephone: +31 70 3060520
fax: +31 70 3555651