Join us for workshops, networking and learning in Rwanda and Germany. Registration opens in March 2024, stay tuned for more information! 
 

ICM Regional Conference Africa and Eastern Mediterranean
Kigali, Rwanda, 24-25 September 2024

ICM Regional Conference Europe
Berlin, Germany, 7-8 November 2024

Please note there may be additional workshops the day before and the day after the conferences.

In November, ICM brought together the participants from the Twin to Win Project for an annual gathering in Casablanca, Morrocco. Midwives from Mali, Senegal, Uganda, Burundi, Costa Rica, and Guatemala met to strengthen connections and elevate their mission.  

The week featured impactful workshops on measuring, evaluating and learning approaches, as well as using digital communications and data for advocacy. 

The twins recorded and presented compelling videos highlighting the project's impact, and a powerful team-building exercise concluded the week. 

You can also watch the videos twinning participants created during the training:  

Midwives are at the forefront of ensuring that women and families have access to quality sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health. ICM urges member associations to engage governments and policymakers at all levels to champion the inclusion of midwife-led care into UHC. 

As the most recent cohort of the Young Midwifery Leaders Programme comes to an end, we are reminded of the energy and commitment, passion, courage and determination that young midwives bring to our profession. As the most recent cohort graduates, read a reflection on why nurturing youth leadership is critical by Lead Coordinator Ann Yates.

ICM and 59 member associations have signed an urgent Statement on Resourcing of Midwives and Decisive Measures to Reduce Carbon Emissions. Specifically, we are asking policymakers to: 

1. Include midwives at climate and disaster response planning and decision-making tables;   
2. Ensure that climate policy includes investment in sustainable models of continuous midwife-led care;  
3. Ensure that midwives have an enabling environment, and the resources and legal frameworks that allow them to practice autonomously across the ICM Midwifery Scope of Practice and to the standard of the ICM Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice;  
4. Take decisive and concrete action to reduce carbon emissions overall, including reductions in fossil fuel extraction and use, as well as implementing sustainable, net zero green technologies.   

What is it like responding to climate crises? What is the role of a midwife when a climate or humanitarian disaster strikes? Neha Mankani is Midwifery Associations Capacity Assessment and Strengthening Project Lead at ICM, and graduate of the Young Midwifery Leaders Programme. This month, Neha brings us a blog describing her work as a first responder to the climate crisis. 

Our RPCs have a regular section in our monthly newsletter, with insights, updates and achievements happening in their region. Every month brings a new RPC update, and over the course of a year each RPC will be featured.

ICM collaborated with other organisations involved in providing and protecting abortion services on a new report, spearheaded by Amnesty International: An Unstoppable Movement: A global call to recognise and protect those who defend the right to abortion. Sally Pairman, ICM’s Chief Executive, said, “A midwife’s duty of care includes supporting access to abortion care and upholding the right of women to freely make decisions about their reproductive health. Midwives are subject to undue risk, violence, abuse or personal harm for doing their job. State and health authorities have the duty to ensure that all health workers, including midwives, are protected.”

Virtual International Day of the Midwife (VIDM) is a 24-hour free online conference dor midwives and anyone interested in childbirth. This year’s theme is Sustainable Midwifery: Caring for Tomorrow’s World. 

VIDM wants to hear from you! Submit presentations or posters with stories, research, clinical practice, activism, public policy, and midwifery education examples from the perspective of clinicians, researchers, activists, students, and teachers. Presentations and posters in all languages are encouraged. 

To gain confidence and competence, midwifery students often say that they need more hands-on practice. This new digital learning tool offers students the opportunity to practice with peers, while giving teachers feedback on what areas students need extra support in.   

The digital tool features 50 practice sessions covering pregnancy, labour and birth and the postnatal period, family planning and safe abortion. 

The WHO's Health for All Film Festival invites submissions of short films celebrating the power of storytelling for health promotion and education. 

This November, National Midwives Association of Uganda (NMAU) participated in a skills-building training and exchange in Sichuan, China. 

“The attendance criteria were specifically directed towards midwives below the age of 45 years, providing an opportunity for me and 19 other young midwives to participate. Furthermore, I believe the seminar coincided with a crucial period when my country, Uganda, is making earnest and intentional efforts to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality, currently standing at 189/100,000 live births and 27/1000 births respectively. It's worth noting that a significant number of maternal deaths occur during the postpartum period, justifying the fact that postpartum haemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal mortality in Uganda, accounting for 4 out of 10 maternal deaths,” said Nalujja Joselyne, Executive Secretary at NMAU, after the training. 

Did you miss the Midwifery-Led Birth Centre Webinar Series? Recordings of the sessions are available for on-demand access on ICM’s YouTube channel, in English, French and Spanish.

The International Stillbirth Alliance (ISA) is a global network that connects families, healthcare providers, and researchers around the world to help end preventable stillbirths and newborn deaths.  ISA has developed resources, including several toolkits, that can help midwives and families deal with perinatal loss, and advocate for the prevention of stillbirth and newborn death.  You can access the resources here.