32nd ICM Virtual Triennial Congress
Every Wednesday in June, ICM hosted virtual, mini-Congresses instead of keeping the originally planned schedule of 5 successive days in a row. This new schedule intended to ease the burden of too many hours/days of virtual conferencing and better accommodate the busy schedule of our Delegates.
The 32nd ICM Virtual Triennial Congress was held on 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 June 2021, with 2 June including the Opening Ceremony. Each day of the Virtual Congress was further divided into two, five-hour blocks of virtual conferencing, allowing participants from different countries and time zones to participate live.
The platform for the Virtual Triennial Congress included opportunities for social gatherings, live Q&As with presenters, live chats with experts, virtual and interactive exhibitions, and more.
Local and Sustainable Healthcare Models: Midwives for the Future, was a virtual event that took place alongside the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday, Sept 27th at 16:00 CET. This panel discussion brought together midwives and health experts from around the world to examine and exemplify why midwives and community-based models of care represent a sustainable path toward stronger health systems. Hosted by Franka Cadée, President of the International Confederation of Midwives, panelists explored the intrinsic connection between resilience and midwifery and why governments should look to midwives and their continuity of care model for guidance in preparing against future health threats, and ensuring more sustainable maternity services in the long term.
Read more about Local and Sustainable Healthcare Models: Midwives for the Future.
The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), together with leading international partners in global development and health, conducted a series of virtual conversations aimed at centering the voices and stories of midwives and women and inspiring a pathway toward strengthened and empowered maternal and newborn health sectors.
Stronger together: a webinar series by and for midwives and women consisted of five digital events, the first of which took place on the peripheries of the 75th UN General Assembly and focused on learning from Indigenous Midwives. The remaining events took place throughout October and November
One hundred years ago, the International Midwives Union (IMU) was created in Belgium, the forerunner of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM). Since then, ICM has transformed into what it is today: a global non-governmental organisation representing more than 140 midwives’ associations (MAs) in more than 120 countries – together, these associations represent over one million midwives worldwide. We could not be prouder to stand for midwives and their associations as they stand for the rights, dignity, and health of women and newborns everywhere. We see this milestone as an opportunity to acknowledge where we have come from as an organisation while simultaneously exploring the next hundred years of ICM and what it would mean for global health if midwives received the enabling environment they deserve.
Click here to access the 100 Years of ICM Toolkit.
The 9th Triad meeting of WHO, the International Council of Nurses and the International Confederation of Midwives, was held from 9-11 May 2022 . The meeting focused on country-level operationalization of the Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery 2021-2025, as adopted by the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly in resolution WHA74.15.
The three entities released a statement following the meeting, acknowledging and reaffirming key issues and challenges, including those posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and committed participants, on behalf of their entities, to specific leadership actions.
Download the Statement of the 9th Triad meeting on Nursing and Midwifery
ICM Member Associations interested in the Twin to Win session registered to have the opportunity to participate in an ICM twinning experience, Twin to Win. Through this experience, MAs were matched with other MAs that operate in similar contexts and they share comparable challenges and goals.
Twinning is a cross-cultural, reciprocal process where two groups of people work together to achieve joint goals. The method has been recognized as an effective way to improve the quality of midwifery care in health systems and to build the capacity in both professional associations involved in the partnership. The number of twinning initiatives worldwide is rapidly increasing, including: the midwives’ associations of Tanzania and Canada, Japan and Mongolia, the UK and Uganda, UK and Nepal, the Netherlands and Sierra Leone, the Netherlands and Iceland, and Ghana and Sierra Leone.