Maternity & Midwifery Forum

International Maternity Expo awards shortlist announced

Paul
The first round of judging is over and the shortlist for the first ever International Maternity Expo awards is revealed. Take a look at who has made the cut!       Over the last 12 months the team behind the International Maternity Expo have been scouring the globe in......
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Wales & South West Maternity & Midwifery Festival Awards 2019 Shortlist Announced

Paul
The Wales & South West Maternity & Midwifery Festival takes place at Cardiff City Stadium on Wednesday 18th September 2019. The festival will feature our usual mix of high quality speakers, the latest industry innovations in our exhibition area, free taster treatments in our wellbeing zone and of course our second annual Wales......
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Nurses and Midwives for Inclusion Health

Paul
Nurses and Midwives for Inclusion Health: Partnership in Practice is a new professional interest group of nurse and midwife practitioners working in contexts where access to/uptake of health services is limited as a result of marginalisation, discrimination or lack of awareness. Examples of these practice areas include: homeless health, migrant/refugee......
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“You shouldn’t have to feel you’re pushing your pregnancy aside…”

Paul
“Even when you account for ethnicity, substance misuse, smoking – an out-of-home [situation] or housing instability leads to a low birth-weight baby.”   Being pregnant whilst homeless throws up a unique set of challenges. Pregnant women who become homeless have priority need for accommodation, according to government guidance, but problems......
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Baby Buddy: embracing the power of evidence, innovation and collaboration to reduce child health inequalities

Paul
Alison Baum OBE, Chief Executive of Best Beginnings gives a plenary presentation discussing “Baby Buddy: embracing the power of evidence, innovation and collaboration to reduce child health inequalities” at the Scotland Maternity & Midwifery Festival 2018. To find out more about Best Beginnings please visit: https://www.bestbeginnings.org.uk/...
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Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome during pregnancy, birth and beyond

Paul
After the actor and activist Jameela Jamil mentioned her Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome in an Instagram comment in February and was later presented with an award by the Ehlers-Danlos Society for being a patient advocate, a lot of fans were left scratching their heads. Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) is a relatively unknown......
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Midwifery a global update, what this means for normal labour and birth

Paul
At the World Health Assembly this year, 194 member states agreed unanimously to put nursing and midwifery at the centre of achieving Universal Health Coverage. It’s a first in world health. They also declared 2020 ‘the Year of the Nurse and the Year of the Midwife’ and pledged to focus......
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Pregnancy and maternity discrimination at work

Paul
Maternity and pregnancy discrimination is unfortunately still very common, what advice can midwives give to women who are experiencing discrimination or unfair treatment? Here we explain how to negotiate an exit from an employer. You can also read our separate page: 10 tips for returning from maternity leave. What is......
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Optimizing the use of Caesarean Section

Paul
In October 2018, The Lancet published an epidemiological report   on global use of caesarean sections – it put the UK figure at just over 26% of all births.  This comes, perhaps not coincidentally, at a time when tokophobia (the extreme fear of birth) seems to be on the rise.......
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