| WELCOME
On behalf of The Australian College of Midwives I invite
you to join with us in this important multidisciplinary
maternity care conference.
Breathing New Life into Maternity Care: working
together for normal birth is a collaborative
conference held every second year to provide a forum
for interdisciplinary dialogue about issues of mutual
interest or concern in the provision of safe and high
quality maternity care to women and their families.
It attracts midwives, GPS and obstetricians, as well
as consumers, policy makers and managers.
In 2008, the theme for the Breathing New Life Collaborative
conference will be “working together for normal
birth”. The program will explore opportunities
for enhancing collaboration among maternity care providers
to offer a more unified approach to inspire and support
normal birth practice.
Pregnancy and birth are fundamentally normal physiological
processes and together we can make a commitment to reducing
unnecessary interventions in normal pregnancy and birth,
and improved support for women during the postnatal
period. The incidence of intervention into birth continues
to rise in many developed countries with the rate of
caesarean now reaching more than double that recommended
by the World Health Organisation of no more than 10%
to 15% of all births.
The ideal is to give mothers a better experience of
a life-changing episode in their lives. The constant
changes we see to healthcare provision, litigation,
and the closures of smaller hospitals and maternity
services in some areas have in many ways reduced women’s
access to care that supports uncomplicated normal birth.
With a more collaborative approach we can promote a
move toward more normal birth where women receive support
to achieve healthy pregnancy, spontaneous labour and
birth, and a smooth transition to parenting, with medical
interventions that are appropriate to their needs.
I look forward to meeting you.
Pat Brodie
National President
Australian College of Midwives
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