I recently discovered a wonderful organization called Earth Birth. Earth Birth is an NGO which is ran by midwives to foster an international women’s health movement that encourages and promotes safe and peaceful birth. Directed by midwife, Rachel Zaslow, Earth Birth raises funds to build clinics and restore communities amongst women in various countries such as Brazil, Sudan and Uganda. With a sustainable mindset, the clinics that are built incorporate green building practices such as rainwater collection, composting for agriculture and solar power. It is the organization’s mission to lower maternal and infant mortality rates, lower mother to child HIV transmission, grant access to supplies, access to trauma counseling, empower women to have positive childbirth experiences and more.
Add Earthbook on Facebook today to stay connected and find out ways that you can participate.
http://thegreendoula.com/blog1/2009/03/16/midwives-on-a-mission-earth-birth/
I forgot to post this a few weeks ago when I was made aware of it, but I wanted to get this out there ASAP!! One of Phoenix’s distinguished midwives, Shell Walker, has taken a great leap and started a birth center in Phoenix. This is an extremely exciting move, as the entire Phoenix valley has been birth-center-less for about two years, ever since Bethany Birth Center was forced to close down due to costs.
http://birthingathome.blogspot.com/2009/02/great-news-for-arizona-mamas-new-birth.html
Citizens for Midwifery is a non-profit, volunteer, grassroots organization. Founded by several mothers in 1996, it is the only national consumer-based group promoting the Midwives Model of Care.
A grassroots organization means a large number of people implementing a coordinated strategy to achieve change. The goal of Citizens for Midwifery is to see that the Midwives Model of Care is available to all childbearing women and universally recognized as the best kind of care for pregnancy and birth. Citizens for Midwifery also endorses the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiativeâ„¢.
The Midwifery Education Accreditation Council’s mission is to promote excellence in midwifery education through accreditation. It creates standards and criteria for the education of midwives. MEAC standards incorporate the nationally recognized core competencies and guiding principles set by the Midwives Alliance of North America and the requirements for national certification of the North American Registry of Midwives.
The purpose of MEAC is to establish standards for the education of competent midwives, and to provide a process for self-evaluation and peer evaluation for diverse educational programs. MEAC is a non-profit organization approved by the U.S. Secretary of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency.
We are proud to announce that Alison Haasch, owner of NaturalChildbirth.org, is now a licensed midwife in the state of Arizona. Alison has been training and working with midwives Pamela Qualls and Sue DiSilvestro for the past several years.
Alison has started her new midwifery business under the name of LifeSpring Midwifery, LLC. She will be offering comprehensive midwifery care specializing in natural home birth, childbirth education, breastfeeding, and well woman care in the Phoenix, Arizona area.
Alison Haasch is currently taking Arizona midwifery clients in Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Fountain Hills, Maricopa, Casa Grande, San Tan Valley, Queen Creek, and Florence.
Alison Haasch, Licensed Midwife - Phoenix, Arizona
UCAN Birth is a volunteer organization of women interested in advocating for normal, natural, unmedicated childbirth. Think of it as a La Leche League for birth. UCAN Birth headquarters are located in Provo, UT in Utah County and women along the Wasatch front are invited to attend.
The Alabama Birth Coalition unites groups and individuals that are committed to improving access to natural childbirth options for women, families and communities in Alabama. Our goal is to provide a statewide grassroots network connecting Members with services that support the goal of natural childbirth and respect parents’ rights to make the appropriate health care decisions for their families.
DoulaWorld.com is an online, searchable, interactive directory that lists Doulas, Midwives, Lactation Consultants and childbirth educators. Our main goal is to help doulas and pregnant couples to find each other and learn about what the doula spirit is all about.
Find natural childbirth options in your area. BirthWithLove.com offers your business advertising on the internet for an affordable price. Your advertising is placed on at least two sites, BirthPartners.com and Mothering.com. If you provide midwifery services we have additionally invested in specialized domains for every state and province of the United States and Canada. BirthPartners.com alone garners over 15,000 visitors every month.
Commonsense Childbirth’s mission is to ensure access to timely maternity healthcare particularly for minority, low-income, uninsured, and under-insured women; and to provide practical, social, educational support, resources and referrals as a means to improving the chances for a positive pregnancy outcome.
Yukoners for Funded Midwifery is a consumer group working to get midwifery services integrated into the Yukon Territorial Health Care Insurance Plan. Every Yukon woman should have access to choices about her pregnancy and her birth experience, whether she wants to use a doctor, a midwife, have a home birth, or give birth in a hospital.
Midwifery is currently practiced in the Yukon as a private service, and there are no laws against it. Because midwives are not regulated or integrated into the health care system, they do not have hospital privileges and so currently provide services only for home births.
Birth Issues gives a voice to the alternative birthing community of northern Alberta. Every issue contains birth stories, often local homebirths, and other regular features include book and website reviews, editorials, birth announcements, poetry, and even recipes. Birth Issues is full of pregnancy, birth and parenting information, health information for the whole family and much more. Our magazine emphasizes choice, awareness, and a natural, healthful approach to these topics. Birth Issues is distributed to all ASAC members and is available to the public at a variety of locations around Alberta.
The Association for Safe Alternatives in Childbirth is a part of a growing network of parents and health professionals who believe that childbirth is a normal, healthy part of life, of special significance to the pregnant woman and her family.
ASAC was created to encourage alternatives to the technological approach. We believe parents have the right and the responsibility to make informed choices about childbirth and that a full range of options should be available to them — in the hospital, at home, in a birthing centre and with professional care givers of their choice.
Our mission is to improve maternity care by providing the public, especially childbearing women and their families, with the information necessary to make fully informed decisions relating to how, where, and with whom they will give birth.
PSI is built on the foundation of providing support to families. If you or someone you know might be experiencing symptoms of prenatal or postpartum mood or anxiety disorder, know that it is treatable and you’ve taken a very important first step. We have PSI Coordinators throughout the world who provide information and support. There is someone in your area who can help you if you are experiencing any of the following: depressed, irritable, exhausted, unlike yourself, sadness, anger, guilt, worry, feelings of inadequacy.
In Haiti, 76% of all deliveries are done by non-qualified persons, contributing to the highest infant and maternal mortality in the western hemisphere. 15% of newborns have low birth weight and 25% of the children suffer from chronic malnutrition. The World Health Organization has estimated that the things professional midwives know how to do – preventative prenatal care, handling complications of pregnancy and birth, and teaching nutrition –could totally change these statistics.
Midwives for Haiti was started by certified nurse-midwives who believe every woman in this world deserves the knowledge and care to have a safe pregnancy and birth. We also believe that even women who cannot read or write are teachable. With the right knowledge and tools, community women can make birth safer and keep babies and mothers from dying. We want to bridge the gap between the traditional birth attendants and the nurse-midwives trained in the medical model so that more women in Haiti have access to skilled care.
Ohio Families for Safe Birth (OFSB) is a consumer-driven effort to create a statewide coalition of families and professionals promoting legislation and policies grounded in the Midwives Model of Care which support families’ access to safe, appropriate, evidence-based care during pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum. Our purposes are:
* Supporting legislation that licenses Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in Ohio;
* Raising awareness and support for families choosing an out-of-hospital birth as a safe, appropriate option;
* Supporting safe family and baby initiatives in all birth settings.
EMA was set up in 2003 to succeed the European Midwives Liaison Committee that was itself set up in the late 70s. It aims to represent all midwives in the EU and the wider European area. Midwives in Europe want to maintain, and where possible, to improve the health and welfare of women and their families.
In the context of the freedom of movement of people, goods and services guaranteed by the EU, the European Directive for Midwifery (2005/36/EC), first adopted in 1980 and later incorporated in 2005 to the General Directive, provides a European framework for midwifery education and practice. This Directive now forms the cornerstone of the profession of European midwifery.
The International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc (ICAN) was formed over 25 years ago in order to support women in their journey towards understanding the risks of cesarean section and with the purpose of helping them have healthy births and healthy lives after undergoing the surgery that changed them.
Twenty-six years later, many women are still being told the same reasons why they must have a cesarean or why they cannot have a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) despite more and more research that states that cesarean surgery should not be taken lightly and that vaginal birth after cesarean should be encouraged in order to reduce further risks to both mother and baby.
The Fistula Foundation is dedicated to the treatment and prevention of obstetric fistula, the devastating injury caused by obstructed labor, through support of the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals in Ethiopia.
Our first priority is to achieve financial sustainability for the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals as they expand their treatment and prevention programs to help a growing number of current and potential fistula patients. As such, we are committed to raising awareness of obstetric fistula, especially among North American donors, organizations, the press and other influencers.