ICM 2011 Council and Congress

The International Confederation of Midwives Meetings
and Our Journey to Africa

Africa was amazing, in all ways. The thing about Africa is the immensity of it: its size, its history, its place in human evolution, its rich cultures, its cultural wars, its social and political problems, its beauty, and its diversity. It is huge; Africa, in all her aspects, is huge. And South Africa is an amazing country, more beautiful, diverse, and complex than I had ever imagined. There was so much to learn, so much to understand, so much to take in. It was the perfect place for the ICM Council and Congress meetings to be held. Visit the ICM Congress website at midwives2011.org.

Many of you have heard reports from those of us who attended the ICM meetings and as a result there has been lots of dynamic discussions. You will also read numerous reports from a variety of attendees' perspectives in the MANA News fall issue. But until then, we would like to share a few tidbits.

ICM Council Meeting

The ICM is comprised of member associations. Currently, there are over 100 members representing over 250,000 midwives from every part of the world. Each member a ssociation appoints two representatives to the ICM Council. Diane Holzer (MANA's ICM Section Chair) and I were MANA's Official Delegates to the Council meeting. We attended four days of meetings prior to the ICM Congress. MANA also sent three Official Observers to witness the meetings: Brynne Potter (NARM), Christy Tashjian (MANA 2nd VP), and Cris Alonso (MANA Mexican Rep). At the 2011 Council meeting there were 118 Official Delegates from 62 associations representing 53 countries. There were 22 Official Observers. Many countries could not send Delegates this time to the ICM due to the financial issues related to their own lack of resources and/or the global financial crises that have impacted them and their midwifery associations.

Members of an ICM Council work team participating in strategic planning

Many noteworthy things happened at the ICM Council meeting, but I will report on three items here. First, several new countries have joined the ICM since ICM 2008 in Scotland:

China
Croatia
Georgia
Kenya
Mongolia
Turkey
Uganda
Uruguay
France (second association)
Gabon
Cameroon
Brazil
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
Lesotho
Philippines (second association)
Bangladesh
Zambia
Madagascar
Sri Lanka
Burundi

This is quite and amazing growth spurt for the ICM.

Second, the Council members were more unified this year than three years ago in Scotland. There was very little dissention in the ranks and a great deal of consensus on most agenda items.

ICM Council Members

Third, the thing most Council membe rs rallied around was the group of essential documents ICM developed through hard work by the Board and independent consultants. Key documents were newly created and/or updated after carefully and meticulously surveying all member associations (including MANA, which gave a lot of input). These are the key documents:

MANA's Offical Delegates & Observers with new ICM Board Member for the English-speaking Americas. L to R: Cris Alonso, Diane Holzer, Frances Ganges (ICM Board Member), Brynne Potter, Christy Tashjian, Geradine Simkins

ICM's Vision for Midwives and Women

This group of documents constitutes a global vision for midwifery. They are designed to bring midwifery into every global conversation--with policy makers, health organizations, funders, health ministries, and government entities--so midwifery is placed in the center as a solution for improving maternal and child health (MCH) in many parts of the world, in both high and low-resourced countries. ICM has more global partners now than ever before, and midwifery is being seen as the solution to the MCH workforce shortage of p rofessionals to serve women, infants, and communities as well as the key to reaching United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5.

It is critical to understand that the issues for most of the midwives of the world are very different from our own in the U.S., and therefore, decisions that were made by the ICM Board and Council members are from distinctly different perspectives. It is important to understand that the global standards for midwifery will benefit most women, infants, families, communities, and midwives in low-resource and developing countries wher e skilled caregivers are scarce, access to high quality maternity care is limited, and life and death issues hang in flux daily. The new documents challenge us in the U.S. to be at the top of our game in providing midwifery education, establishing and revising midwifery regulation, and developing midwifery associations. Please read the upcoming MANA News for more conversation on these critically important topics.

ICM Congress

The ICM 29th Triennial Congress was held in Durban, South Africa, from June 19-23, 2011. This global midwifery event brought together 3000 midwives and stakeholders from more than 100 countries to advocate for the critical role of midwives in reducing maternal and newborn mortality, and to share best practices, experiences and knowledge. Visit midwives2011.org to see videos and photos regarding the Road to Durban march, Council meetings, and Congress events.

MANA members Debbie Pulley and Carol Nelson sharing information with attendees at the Midwives Alliance booth

ICM Attendees

There were a record number of countries represented by ICM participants, including:
Afghanistan (20), Argentina (2), Australia (173), Austria (1), Bangladesh (9), Belgium (8), Benin (2), Botswana (7), Brazil (4), Brunei Darussalam (1), Burkina Faso (9), Burundi (2), Cambodia (4), Canada (56), Chad (3), Chile (13), China (20), Comoros (3), Congo, Dem. Rep. of (1), Cote D'Ivoire (1), Cyprus (8), Czech Republic (12), Denmark (23), Ecuador (1), Estonia (7), Ethiopia (15), Finland (24), France (12), Gabon (4), Gambia, The (2), Germany (40), Ghana (63), Haiti (4), India (31), Indonesia (24), Iran (2), Ireland (30), Israel (4), Japan (51), Kenya (14), Liberia (9), Madagascar (4), Malawi (34), Mali (7), Malta (1), Martinique (Fr) (2), Mexico (1), Middle East (1), Mongolia (2), Morocco (1), Nepal (6), Netherlands (99), New Zealand (33), Nigeria (42), Northern Ireland (4), Norway (44), Pakistan (5), Palestine (15), Peru (6), Philippines (5), Poland (1), Portugal (6), Reunion (2), Rwanda (8), Saudi Arabia (7), Sierra Leone (28), Slovenia (5), South Africa (1344), Spain (20), Sudan (12), Swaziland (4), Sweden (42), Switzerland (33), Taiwan (3), Tanzania, United Rep. (6), Togo (1), Trinidad & Tobago (24), Tunisia (2), Turkey (4), Uganda (20), Union des Lemere (1), United Arab Emirates (9), United Kingdom (199), United States (185), Vietnam (2), West Indies (1), Yemen (1), Zambia (22), and Zimbabwe (11).

In addition, the First Ladies of Kenya and Malawi were present along with global partners from organizations such as: WHO, United Nations agencies, UNFPA, SIDA, the Federation of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (FIGO), JHPIEGO, IPAS, White Ribbon Alliance, Gates Foundation, ministers of health, national departments of health, funders, and more.

Click here for more photos from the ICM Congress.

State of the World's Midwifery Report

Numerous workshops and/or concurrent session were presented by midwives from all over the world including midwives from the U.S. and MANA. Visit www.midwives2011.org for details.

A piece of history in the making was the unveiling of the first report to explore the state of midwifery practices across the globe, entitled the State of the World's Midwifery 2011: Delivering Health, Saving Lives that was launched on June 20, 2011 in Durban. The report provides new information and data gathered from 58 countries across all regions and aims to help strengthen the practice of midwifery around the world.

A Bit of Joy

Much of the Congress was sobering and overwhelming. We have so much work to do on the planet. Yet, every day there were moments of joy and inspiration. Midwives love to sing, and the South African Midwives broke into song regularly during the Congress to lift our spirits and make us feel deeply connected to one another. One workshop I was fortunate enough to get in to (there were dozens turned away due to the size of the room) was the Singing Workshop in which midwives from all over the globe shared their special songs with one another. The midwives from the U.S. shared one of our favorite songs-I Love Being A Midwife-that was taught to us by long-time activist in women's health and human rights, Byllye Avery. Watch a video of us singing on our YouTube channel here.

Some North Americans in South Africa who sang "I Love Being a Midwife"

ICM 2017 Will Be in North America!

For those of you who found Africa too far of a destination to travel to, you will be pleased to know that Canada was successful in its bid to host the 2017 ICM Congress in Toronto! This is good news for the midwives of the Americas, particularly Central and South America and the Caribbean, as they were very under-represented at both the 2008 (Scotland) and 2011 ICM meetings. We will make a big effort to assist midwife associations in the Americas and Caribbean who are not yet ICM member associations to have their applications for ICM membership accepted by 2017. In this way, we will open the door for more participation by thousands of midwives from the Americas region. You will hear more about this topic at the MANA, CAM, and ACNM joint conference to be held in Niagara Falls, Ontario November 9-12, 2011. Visit midwifery2011.org for more information or to register!

I hope this has given you a sneak preview and will encourage you to read the Fall edition of the MANA News for more information. We expect to have many lively conversations and actions steps taken as a result of what we learned in Durban, South Africa, amongst the midwives of the world.

Blessings,
Geradine Simkins, MANA Interim Executive Director

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