Sally and Margaret
Good evening South Africa, from Dublin to Durban
Thank you very much for the "hot off the press" update. It is great to get a picture of the place
...."curling waves" "....pounds on beach". It would have been great to be there.It is brilliant to
hear of the scale of progress to date.
If you get to speak with her, please pass on our very warm regards to Bridget Lynch and we
hope she got our messages and parcel in Canada. We are working on the messages she
has left us. We will be commence booking women for a midwifery led Domino service here at
the Coombe from Monday 4th July 2011. All we have to do now, is get that Association
established as she advised. Again, we owe her a debt of gratidude for all she has achieved
during her Presidency.
I hope everyone present has a safe and wonderfully productive ICM week.
PS. It is overcast and we have changeable temps here in Dublin this evening.
Regards
Patricia Hughes
Director of Midwifery & Nursing
Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital
Tel: 01 4085490
Mob: 086 1727097
Email: [log in to unmask]
Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital
"Excellence in the Care of Women & Babies"
Confidentiality notice:The information contained in this email message is intended only for
the confidential use of the named recipient. If the reader of this message is not the intended
recipient or the person responsible for delivering it to the recipient, you are hereby notified
that you have received this communication in error and that any review, dissemination or
copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please
notify the sender immediately.
Dear all
Background to ICM council meeting Durban South Africa June 2011
Margaret Carroll and Sally Millar are representing the Midwives Section of the INMO at the
ICM council meeting in Durban. Although this is an intense four days of hard work we are
summarising the main issues here and attaching the most important documents for your
information and interest.
The venue for this ICM council meeting is idyllic. The Indian Ocean pounds on beach and
white waves curl and foam. It is pleasantly warm - itīs Winter here but the serious business
is all inside.
This is a very interesting council meeting. A phenomenal amount of work has taken place in
the last three years. ICM now has 109 associations in 97 countries representing 250,000
midwives worldwide. Since the last council and congress 20 new associations have joined.
There are 120 delegates, 12 board and executive members present at council.
English is the main language of council but there is simultaneous translation into Spanish and
French and vice versa when a Spanish or French speaking delegate speaks. It is
impressive how well it all works and the technical side of the council is fantastic. Three
screens show powerpoint presentations and documents in three languages concurrently.
In the last three years ICM has put itself on the world political and health agenda more than
ever and has forged new partnerships and alliances. Most notable partnerships being WHO,
FIGO, ICN, PMNCH. What I found particularly interesting was that at a recent meeting with
WHO it was agreed that WHO would endorse and support three very important documents
that have been attached for your information.
Three Very Important Documents
Three seminal pieces of work (attached) were presented to Council that were developed
during this Triennium and were agreed in Glasgow as part of the strategic plan for the next
Triennium. These are:
1. ICM Essential Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice
2. ICM Global Standards for Midwifery Education
3. ICM Global Standards for Midwifery Regulation
These were adopted by Council by large majorities. The work for midwives and midwife
associations in the next Triennium will be to ensure that these are examined closely in the
context of the situation in that country in order to bring standards in line with the ICM
standards.
Definition of the Midwife
A revision to the ICMīs definition of the midwife was adopted yesterday 15th June 2011 to
include reference to the ICM Essential Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice and the
ICM Global Standards for Midwifery Education. There was some concern that this might be a
little premature given that the both documents were adopted by the Board of ICM thisyear.
Midwifery Association Capacity Assessment Tool (MACAT)
An important function of ICM is to strengthen midwifery associations. On Thursday, the
Midwifery Association Capacity Assessment Tool (MACAT) was adopted by Council (100%
agreement!!) to facilitate midwifery associations asses the strengths and areas for
development in their association (available on ICM website).
Sally and Margaret
|
