Message from the CE

The first week of October brought our newly-elected Board to The Hague for their first in-person meeting since being elected by the Council in June. Significant focus was given to orientating the new Board and determining how to maximize the breadth and depth of each member’s expertise and experience. In-depth workshops were held on Governance and Leadership, the latter of which was run by Sharon D’Agostino of SayItForward, who generously donated her time to support ICM.

The Strategic Directions developed by the Council were advanced during these meetings, and work on this continues with a small subgroup of the Board. We hope to submit the final documents on this to the Council by early 2018.

During this time, decisions were held around ICM operations, finances, and engagement with global events where the presence of midwives can be maximised.

We had the pleasure of hosting Katja Iverson (Chief Executive) and Evelyne Guidon (Director, External Relations) from Women Deliver at the Head Office, where we enjoyed some excellent discussions about our shared objectives through the lens of protecting the rights and dignity of women, newborns, and their families.

I had the privilege of attending the World Self-Medication Industry Conference in Sydney, Australia, where I spoke to people hailing predominantly from the pharmaceutical industry, including pharmacists and policy-makers about the role of midwives in relation to self-care.

ICM’s Head Office has begun working on a new organisational structure to increase efficiency and strengthen our capacity for core work including support for our Member Associations. We have begun working on our advocacy objectives for the coming year and are excited to continue developing a stronger women-centred and female-driven message that raises midwives and the women with whom they partner at the forefront of the global development conversation. We are excited to welcome two new staff to Head Office – Ann Yates is the new Lead Midwife Advisor and Florence West is the Midwife Advisor who will take specific responsibility for the 50,000 Happy Birthdays project we are undertaking in partnership with Laerdal Global Health. Ann and Florence will be profiled on the website when they commence work in mid-November.

Kia Kaha

Sally Pairman

Chief Executive

News Brief

Chile: 7th International Conference on Midwifery

On October 24th, the Chilean Association of Midwives held their 7th International Congress on Midwifery in Concepción. The theme for the four days Congress was "Midwifery Contributions and Challenges for Sustainable Development".

Over 300 midwives from Chile, Latin America region and local authorities from University of Concepción Board Members and the Ministry of Health representative attended the conference. Click HERE to read more.

Kyrgyzstan MOH approves Chief Midwife post in the Ministry

Following the introductory meeting on Midwifery Services Framework (MSF) in 2016 and gap analysis exercise which was led by the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) team early 2017; the Kyrgyzstan Ministry of Health has approved a post of Chief Midwife in the Ministry to ensure strong presence and voice for the midwifery profession as well as active participation during policy discussions.

Nazgul Shadybekova was nominated as the first Chief Midwife by the Kyrgyzstan Midwifery Association (KMA). Prior to the establishment of this post, all midwifery activities were overseen by the Chief Nurse. The KMA contributed tremendously in developing the job description for this post which was filled in September.

The appointment shows that the MSF is having a positive impact on the governance of midwives and midwifery in the country. Click HERE to read more

Nazgul Shadbekova, training midwives on Helping Babies Breath (HBB)

Nazgul Shadbekova presenting during the gap analysis workshop. She has recently been appointed Chief Midwife Advisor in the Ministry of Health.

Strengthening midwifery through Competency Based Education (CBE)

Tanzania Midwives Association (TAMA), through their joint project with Canadian Association of Midwives (CAM) conducted two Comptency Based Education (CBE) workshops in Dar es Salaam with the support from ICM and Sanofi Espoir Foundation.

The main focus was on CBE teaching, learning, evaluation strategies as well as ICM global standards for midwifery education and essential competencies for basic midwifery practice. The two workshops were held on October 23-25 and 26-28, participants of the workshop included midwifery educators and clinical preceptors in various midwifery institutions and hospitals in Tanzania. Click HERE to read more

New ICM Regional Groupings

The ICM Council has approved the adoption of a new ICM regional grouping as per the World Health Organization's regional grouping.

The ICM Member Countries (Member Associations) will now be grouped geographically in six regions and 10 subregions:-

1. Africa (Anglophone and Francophone)

2. Americas (North America & Carribean and Latin America)

3. Europe (Northern, Central and Southern)

4. Western Pacific

5. Eastern Mediterranean

6. South-East Asia

For a more elaborative distribution and to see which Board Member will represent what region click HERE

Preventing PPH: Saving lives of mothers and their babies

In an effort to improve and accelerate progress on reduction of maternal, newborn and child death in Tanzania; Alex James, a midwife and midwifery educator designed a project to save the lives of mothers and their newborns, especially in the rural areas.

Alex’s project which is entitled “Stop Postpartum Hemorrhage (PPH) Active Management of third stage of labor to Save Lives of Mothers and their Babies” won the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and Johnson and Johnson Global Education Award for midwifery. The award is an encouragement and example for midwifery educators and seeks to recognize midwives who created innovative educational programs. Click HERE to read more

Midwifery Education Accreditation Programme (MEAP) pilot assessment in Comoros

The second pilot assessment took place in Comoros mid October. As for the first pilot in Trinidad and Tobago the aim was to test the draft MEAP process, documents and tools. Feedback from the participants will inform the final design and content of the ICM MEAP. Click HERE to learn more about MEAP. Photos below are of the Comoros pilot assessment

New ICM Members around the globe

The incoming Board has approved two new members to full membership during their first official Board meeting in October.

The Two members are:-

1. The Czech Union of Midwives (UNIPA) from Czech Republic

2. Société Congolaise se la Pratique-Sage-Femme (SCOSAF) from Democratic Republic of Congo

With the two new members this brings to a total of 132 members in 113 countries. Click HERE to learn more about membership.

Photo snippets

ICM Chief Executive Sally Pairman (2nd L) with panelists on self care in global health policy at WSMI Congress in Sydney. The Chief Executive spoke on the role of midwives in self care

Board Meeting

The first meeting of the ICM new board was held in the first week of October. The meeting included workshops on governance and leadership as well as business items and a team building activity. An important focus was on the further development of the 2017-2020 strategic plan building on the directions set by the ICM Council in June of quality, equity and leadership. Below are some of the photos taken during the workshop.