A health worker talks and points to an illustration of a midwife helping a mother and baby.

Midwives for Every Community

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National Midwifery Week is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the essential role that midwives play in delivering ethical, culturally appropriate, quality health care.

This year’s theme is “Midwives for Every Community” – and we couldn’t agree more! For many in the U.S., midwifery care is a luxury despite the critical care and services they deliver. From contraceptive counseling to caring for newborns, midwives care for the entire community. Midwives’ compassionate and personalized care, tailored to a person’s life experiences and circumstances, allow for the pregnant person to be at the center of a spectrum of prenatal to postpartum care. Care by midwives challenges the racism in our medical system that results in an African American mortality rate 3 to 4 times higher than that of whites, and double the number of infant deaths.

We are proud to have partnered for many years with the Midwives Alliance of North America, the American College of Nurse Midwives, and the International Confederation of Midwives. Their members have generously reviewed Hesperian’s midwifery and women’s health materials and, along with organizations such as the Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery and Midwives for Haiti, have helped ensure these resources reach midwives and midwives-in-training throughout the US and globally.
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