CANADA: Ontario
CPMs: Yours to Discover
Comment on the Big Push Initiative August 20, 2008
"As researchers who have been active in the field of research of direct entry midwifery and home birth in North America for two decades, we have been most impressed with the recent development of, the work done by, and those involved in the 'Big Push for Midwives.' We had the chance to meet and interact with many of key players last fall at the Big Push weekend session in Chicago, and have had continued involvement since then.
"In 2005, we published the largest prospective epidemiologic study of home birth with direct entry midwives ever done, in the British Medical Journal. It involved systematic collection of detailed data on over 5,000 home births from the 400 Certified Professional Midwifes (CPMs) practicing in the year 2000 in the United States.1 The study found that the safety for mothers and babies of planned home birth with a CPM was similar to that of a low-risk hospital birth, but with much lower medical intervention rates.
"As Canadians we have seen the legalization of direct-entry midwifery and home birth in all 10 Canadian provinces over the last 15 years. More than 95% of Canadian women now have the choice of complete coverage for midwifery care paid for entirely by our universal not-for-profit health care system. We are extremely encouraged to see and impressed by the Big Push actions being pursued to push for advocacy of direct entry midwifery in the half of the states in the union that still lack it.
"We think that investing in the Big Push would be a wise and prudent investment in the health of future mothers and babies in the U.S."
—Betty-Anne Daviss, M.A., R.M.
Research Midwife and Adjunct Professor
Pauline Jewett School of Women's Studies
Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
—Kenneth C. Johnson, Ph.D.
Senior Epidemiologist/ Research Scientist
Evidence and Risk Assessment Division,
Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control
Public Health Agency of Canada
Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0K9
References
1 Johnson K.C., Daviss B.A. "Outcomes of planned home births with certified professional midwives: large prospective study in North America." BMJ 2005; 330(7505):1416.
