Speaker: Jessica Brumley
Facilitator: Caitlin Goodwin
Midwifery has played a critical role in maternal and newborn care throughout our history, yet its integration into the healthcare system has been marked by challenges and transformation. This presentation explores the historical trajectory of midwifery. The current landscape highlights a growing recognition of midwifery’s benefits, including improved maternal outcomes, reduced interventions, and enhanced patient-centered care. Despite this progress, barriers such as restrictive regulations, inconsistent legislative policies, and disparities in access persist.
Looking ahead, the future of midwifery integration depends on policy reform, interprofessional collaboration, and public awareness to strengthen midwives’ role in addressing the maternal health crisis. A strong professional association is critical in advancing the midwifery agenda and strengthening the profession.
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Speakers: Erin Gilmer and Zahra Mirzaei
Facilitator: Isabella Garti
Background: In December 2024, the Taliban banned women from attending midwifery and nursing institutes in Afghanistan, cutting off the last remaining avenue for women’s higher education. This policy threatens maternal and newborn health in a country where the maternal mortality ratio at 620 deaths per 100,000 live births, one of the highest in the world. Afghan midwives are essential frontline providers, particularly in rural areas; therefore, sustaining midwifery education is vital to ensuring continued healthcare access for Afghan women and families.
Purpose: In response to this crisis, Kabul Online Medical University in Exile (KOMU-E) has launched an innovative online midwifery education program. This initiative aims to preserve academic continuity for Afghan midwifery students, sustain their engagement with the midwifery profession, and provide a critical lifeline for education and wellbeing.
Focus of Presentation: This presentation explores the implementation of KOMU-Es online midwifery education initiative. Grounded in the Afghan midwifery curriculum and aligned with ICM Essential Competencies, the program is delivered by experienced Afghan midwives in the diaspora. Currently, the program focuses on theory-based coursework while KOMU-E explores strategies for safe and effective hands-on learning and clinical experience. Importantly, the program integrates psychosocial support to address the mental health impact of educational exclusion.
The session will highlight the challenges, strategies, and impact of delivering midwifery education in a highly restrictive environment. We also hope to connect with audience members with experience in blended learning models for midwifery education.
Speaker: Jamie Hanson
Facilitator: Celine Lemay
Non-access to Perinatal mental health services for Black African Women can lead to increased perinatal morbidity and mortality in relation to mental health. Three quarters of Black and Brown Women’s morbidity is associated with suicide in the postnatal period, and they are more likely to experience adverse outcomes during pregnancy and the postnatal period compared to white women (MBRRACE, 2023). Health inequalities within maternity services also increase the risk of mental health challenges which is exacerbated by unemployment, poverty and homelessness which adds to the challenges of the women accessing perinatal mental health services (Rothman et al, 2020). There is also the associated stigma within the Black African community in declaring mental health challenges and it being viewed as ‘shameful’ and embarrassing to admit to feeling depression leading to alienation and preventing the women form seeking help from health professionals (Watson et al, 2019). The reluctance to access support is also compounded by negative experiences from health professionals and engagement with primary care (Edge and Mackian, 2010). What we don’t know is how the women can be supported in accessing services and what is required to be on place. The contribution to knowledge is exploring and describing attitudes to perinatal mental health, listening to the women’s voices and understanding the service and how it can be improved. Methods An Exploratory Descriptive Qualitative (EDQ) study design was employed which allows for a social constructivist and interpretivist approach (Reid and Happell, 2012).
