ICM MEDIA RELEASE RE COVID-19

We at ICM understand many of you are at capacity with the strain the Covid19 pandemic has added to your already-busy workloads. With this in mind, we have developed resources/statements aimed at supporting our global midwifery community through these trying times.

Please find more details below:

• Many Governments around the world are not supplying midwives with personal protective equipment (PPE), despite the fact that midwives are supporting mothers infected with Covid19 to birth their babies. Please read and share this statement with your members, and tag your respective government in your social media posts.
• It goes without saying that women’s rights in childbirth must be upheld during the Coronavirus pandemic. However, in many countries, women’s rights are currently being ignored and abused. With this in mind, ICM has developed advice for midwives, other health professionals and health service managers about the care of women and their babies during the childbirth continuum. Please click here to view our statement, and please circulate this statement widely throughout your network.
• This section on our website is devoted to providing the most current, researched-based advice on reproductive health and Covid19. We are adding to this section as new evidence and information from reputable sources becomes available.

We want to ensure we’re providing you with the tools you need to work safely and effectively during this period. Please reach out to us if you have ideas on additional resources we should be providing to our community. Please also contact us if there is a specific Coronavirus-related issue taking place in your country that you’d like to bring to our attention. We will do what we can to support.

To further provide support, ICM will host a video conference meeting next week with each of our 10 sub-regions. We hope the regional Board Member will attend (and perhaps other Board Members) and we will allocate our ICM Head Office team across these meetings. The meetings are intended  to provide you with a platform to share your experiences managing Covid19 and to offer our support. We might not be able to solve your issues but we want to hear about them and to provide an opportunity for you to share ideas and experiences with each other. Keep a look out for an email from ICM about the date and time of the meeting in your region, as well as the meeting link.