International Midwifery Organizations
Categories: For Midwives
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 ࠬa suite de discussions sur la liste francophone "Naissance." L'id饠principale est de dynamiser le mouvement associatif de parents et accompagnateurs de la naissance, dans les pays francophones, en mettant gratuitement ࠳a 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'int鲥sse ࠵ne question souvent 鬵d饠par les parents et sages-femmes sensibilis鳠au probl譥 de la surm餩calisation de la naissance: comment pourrait-on red馩nir, en dehors du syst譥 actuel de prise en charge m餩cale, le r?et les comp鴥nces 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: http://www.nascitadolce.com/; email: mailto: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 http://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
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