December Newsletter

On behalf of the entire team at ICM, I’d like to wish you happy holidays and a wonderful new year.

Though the year is drawing to a close, ICM’s work doesn’t stop until the last possible minute. The United Nations Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) hosted its 21st Board Meeting in Lilongwe, Malawi on the 14th and 15th of December, where ICM was represented on the Board by our President, Franka Cadée, and myself in an alternate seat. PMNCH is an alliance of more than 1000 organisations around the world and provides a platform for organisations to align objectives, strategies and resources, and agree on interventions to improve maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.

The Board meeting provided the opportunity for reflection on 2107 activities and outcomes achieved and to identify priorities for 2018 and beyond. ICM is involved in supporting the efforts of the Quality Equity Dignity (QED) Network to ensure quality of care for mothers and their newborns, including Universal Health Coverage (UHC). We recognise the essential role that midwives can play in both these areas if appropriately educated, regulated and supported in communities as part of an integrated and enabling health system. Many of our activities also contribute to the work streams on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Empowerment of Women, Girls and Communities

The end of the year brings with it two more departures from ICM’s Technical Midwifery Team: Pashtoon Zyaee and Janet Lewis. Pashtoon has enjoyed a long and successful career in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and now the Netherlands as a professional midwife, and her expertise enabled a number of leading organisations such as Jhpiego, Save the Children and UNFPA to develop and implement meaningful and ongoing programmes to save the lives of vulnerable people in low- and mid-resourced settings. Janet, whose effervescent nature and proficiency in French saw the ICM-UNFPA programmeStrengthening Midwifery in French Speaking Africa successfully deployed in 22 countries, has been a longstanding and passionate educator for midwives and mothers around the world. We wish them both well for their next adventures.

As the year draws to a close, ICM President Franka Cadée, has recorded video on her reflections of the first six months in office of the Board. Watch the video by clicking on the link below.

Looking forward to 2018 the ICM calendar is filling rapidly. There are some important dates to note.

The new ICM regions (South East Asia, Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean) will combine for a regional meeting and workshops in Dubai on 23 & 24 June
The International Day of the Midwife will be celebrated again on 5th May, this time with the theme: Midwives leading the way with quality care
ICM and the Midwives Association of Paraguay will host the Americas Region conference in Paraguay on 7th, 8th, & 9th November

After a big year, the team at ICM’s Head Office will enjoy a well-deserved rest. Our office will be closed from 22 December until 8 January.

Have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year.

Kia Kaha

Sally Pairman

Chief Executive

Seasons Greetings | Felices Fiestas | Meilleurs Voeux

Message from the President

ICM President Franka Cadée's message on her 6 months reflections after being elected as President. You can read the text in our three official languages from the links below.

- English

- French

- Spanish

News in Brief

From 10,000 to 50,000 Happy Birthdays

Every year, approximately 300,000 mothers and 2.7 million newborns die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Most of these lives could be prevented if they had received care from educated, regulated and skilled midwives working in an enabling health system environment. Developing and maintaining skills to manage unanticipated problems at the time of birth is vital.

Based on the success of the 10,000 Happy Birthdays, the project will now scale up to 50,000 Happy Birthdays. Our goal countinues to be helping train, equip and empower midwives to provide quality care at birth to save more lives, and thereby contribute to additional 50,000 Happy Birthdays by 2020.

We are happy to announce that the 50,000 Happy Birthdays project will be implemented by three Midwives Associations in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda; and coordinated by International Confederation of Midwives in partnership with Laerdal Global Health. In the coming months we will profile each country on our website, detailing their objectives, goals and aims of the project aligned with the Helping Mothers Survive in Maternal NewBorn Child Health.

Mongolian Midwives on the move

Since it's establishment in 2007, the Mongolian Midwives Association has continued to grow, currently it has 999 members.

Recently the Ministry of Health has approved the new job description for midwives in Mongolia, which now gives midwives more autonomy at their workplace. Initially the midwives used to provide antenatal, birth and post-birth care under the supervision of gynaecologists and obstetricians.

To learn more about Mongolian Midwives Association click HERE

2018 International Day of the Midwife theme

We are happy to announce the theme for 2018 IDM in three (English, Spanish and French) official ICM languages. The resource pack will be shared early next year.

- Midwives leading the way with quality care

- Sages-femmes, leaders en soins de qualite

- Matronas liderando el camino con un cuidado de calidad

Member Association corner

An Introduction to our New Member - Czech Union of Midwives

Czech Union of Midwives (UNIPA) is a nonprofit professional organization of midwives and midwifery students. The Association participates in the development of midwifery according to the latest scientific knowledge and contributes to the quality of care for the woman and child. It provides expert support to midwives and information and consultancy services to pregnant women and their families. The Association is a democratic professional organization, which brings together midwives and midwifery students in the Czech Republic on the principle of voluntary individual membership. To learn more about UNIPA click HERE

Photo snippets: A year in review

THANK YOU!

ICM Team would like to thank all Member Associations, donors, partners, stakeholders, midwives and everyone who participated and supported our events and programmes the whole year through. We look forward to your continued support in 2018.

NOTE: Our office will remain closed from 22 December 2017 - 8 January 2018