Mother-Friendly Childbirth Forum

As I write, three CfM Board members are at the Coalition for Improving Maternity Care Services (CIMS) Forum in Florida. Today was the opening day of the Forum and I'm sure there is lots of great stuff going on!

Watch for an update on the Forum after the Board members return! They are definitely going to be busy this weekend. They are each co-presenting sessions at this event. Carolyn is presenting during the session, “Learn to Gather Intervention Statistics and Market The Birth Survey.” Susan will help present “Using the Evidence Basis for the Ten Steps of Mother-Friendly Care in Your Community,” and is participating in a plenary discussion on “Making Mother-Friendly Care a Reality.” She will also be on the panel discussion following a screening of The Business of Being Born. Nasima, who is also a leader on the CIMS Grassroots Advocates Committee (GAC) and worked on the Planning Team, has perhaps been the busiest preparing for the Forum. She and the other GAC leaders are presenting a plenary session on “CIMS Grassroots Advocates Committee (GAC): Transparency in Maternity Care Pilot Site Results and National Launch.” Nasima is also presenting a workshop on “Creating Birth Change: Grassroots Advocacy Effective Resources and Tools.”

You can read more about each of their presentations in follow-up articles in the fall issue of CfM News. These Board members are working so hard on behalf of Citizens for Midwifery as well as for women everywhere who are seeking access to mother-friendly, maternity care!

From the Forum press release:

"The United States spends more on healthcare than any country in the world, $79 billion in 2005. Pregnancy and delivery and newborn care are 2nd and 3rd most expensive conditions treated in U.S. hospitals and the two most expensive conditions billed to Medicaid and private insurance. Despite these burdensome costs fewer newborns die in countries like Lithuania, Slovenia, Israel, Greece, and Portugal. One in 4,800 women in the U.S. are likely to die from pregnancy-related causes compared to 1 in 9,600 in Kuwait, 1 in 17,800 in Denmark, and 1 in 47,600 in Ireland. The CDC estimates the true level of U.S. maternal deaths may be 1.3 to 3 times higher than the reported rate. At the 2008 Mother-Friendly Childbirth Forum hosted by the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS), March 6-8 in Kissimmee, Florida, expert speakers will address this issue and explore solutions for what can be done to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rate while enhancing care for the nation's most vulnerable populations - mothers and babies."