Birth Advocates Strategize for Decreased Maternal Mortality

Over 100 midwives, doctors, nurses, students, doulas, researchers, lawyers and advocates for maternal health packed a Leesburg conference room Saturday morning for the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Birth summit organized by the Northern Virginia chapter of Birth Matters Virginia. Winchester’s Shenandoah University offers a masters of science degree in nursing-nurse-midwifery and donated the use of its Northern Virginia campus building for the event.

After a moment of silence to honor the lives of women that are lost in pregnancy and childbirth – between two and three each day in the United States – the program began with speaker presentations and panel discussions.

 Amnesty International researcher Nan Strauss discussed her organization’s 2010 report, Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis. Women in the U.S. have a higher risk of dying in pregnancy and childbirth than women in more than 40 other countries, and the risk is four times higher for women of color than for white women. Half of maternal deaths could be prevented if all women had good health care.

 The summit sought to address “what is broken” in the U.S. health care system and to celebrate innovation. Jennie Joseph, executive director of The Birth Place near Orlando, Fla., explained how her non-profit birth center successfully serves at-risk communities.

 Conference organizer, Birth Matters VA co-founder, and mother of four Sheryl Hotlen Rivett previously worked with MotherNet/Healthy Families Loudoun, where she counseled at-risk pregnant women, empowering them to navigate the medical system.

 Because of Loudoun Community Midwives and the Birthing Inn at Inova Loudoun Hospital, good local obstetricians, and the wider local midwifery community, Loudoun County has better maternal mortality statistics than the national average.

 After having spent hours in work groups, participants from around the country will “take our work to our respective organizations and push for support for what we’re trying to accomplish,” said midwife Kim Pekin. One of many local holistic health providers in attendance, Pekin will open the Natural Birth Center of Northern Virginia in Chantilly in June with two other midwives.

 Pekin was impressed with the summit’s success at bringing together people of different professions to work toward a common goal. Rivett said a leadership group will continue to “work across organizational lines in a multidisciplinary approach” to address the nationwide problem of maternal mortality. One goal is to raise awareness among the general public that the U.S. ranks 50th out of 171 countries in the world on this problem despite considerable financial resources spent on pregnancy and childbirth.

 Participants support H.R. 894, the Maternal Health Accountability Act of 2011, sponsored by Representative John Conyers (D-MI). The bill calls for better data collection and analysis protocols.

 Continued work with Amnesty International and the White Ribbon Alliance aims to raise awareness about the problem through showings of the films “Birth and Death” and “No Woman No Cry.”