A discussion with the team over at GoodBirth.net to talk about their vision of bringing "together health professionals to support a global network of midwifery centers in collaborative quality initiatives. The GoodBirth Network consists of midwifery centers in low and middle income countries that desire to work with global peers to achieve and recognize excellence."

Jennifer Stevens has been a midwife for over 15 years.  As director at Reading Birth Center, she attended births in home, hospital and birth center settings.  She began global work in 2010 in Haiti, interned with WHO in Geneva, and is currently working with UNFPA in Bangladesh on their Strengthening National Midwifery Program.  She is co-founder of GoodBirth Network, networking midwifery centers globally, especially in low resource areas, to encourage their growth and high quality with standards.  At GoodBirth Network she facilitated consensus around the global definition for midwifery centers, completed a pilot study demonstrating their safety, and created and validated process standards for quality. She is currently finishing her doctorate in Public Health at Boston University, focusing on a human rights based approach to maternal health care.

Cris Alonso, MPH, CPM founded the Luna Maya Birth Centers in Mexico. She collaborates with the Goodbirth Network supporting midwifery centers around the world. Currently she leads the Academic Public Health Volunteer Corps that supports the Massachusetts Department of Public Health´s and Governor Baker´s COVID Response initiatives.  Cris is an author of the recently published "Open a Midwifery Center, A Manual for Launching and Operating Midwifery Centers in Global Settings", and attends Harvard University as a Doctor of Public Health student..

How to network with GoodBirth Network:
@FaceBook
@Website
@Twitter
@Cris Email
@Jennifer's Email

People, places and things mentioned on the podcast:
AABC - American Association of Birth Centers
ICM - International Confederation of Midwives
UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund
FIGO - International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics
Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation
WHO - World Health Organization
MacArthur Foundation
PAHO - Pan American Health Organization
Helping Babies Breath - American Academy of Pediatrics
Mamatoto Resource and Birth Centre - Trinidad

Cris Alonso, MPH, CPM founded the Luna Maya Birth Centers in Mexico. She collaborates with the Goodbirth Network supporting midwifery centers around the world. Currently she leads the Academic Public Health Volunteer Corps that supports the Massachusetts Department of Public Health´s and Governor Baker´s COVID Response initiatives.  Cris is an author of the recently published "Open a Midwifery Center, A Manual for Launching and Operating Midwifery Centers in Global Settings", and attends Harvard University as a Doctor of Public Health student.

Cris agreed to come on to update us on COVID-19 specific to midwifery and midwifery centers with her unique global perspective, as well as introduce her paper "Where do women birth during a pandemic? Changing perspectives on Safe Motherhood during the COVID-19 pandemic" in the Journal of Global Health Science.
 
How to network with Cris:

@Email
@Website
@Twitter

People, places and things mentioned on the podcast:
Operational Standards for Birth Centers
Lucia Rocca-Ihenacho