Membership Content

Like most other countries, Bangladesh is facing the onslaught of Covid-19. In a near-lockdown situation, normal life has been interrupted, education institutions closed down, devotees reduced in mosques and temples, and gathering of any type in the community is discouraged. However, the frontline health care workers (FLW) are on their toes, providing services to the ailing people, both coronavirus-related and otherwise. Unlike most of us, they cannot stay at home. One group of these FLWs is the midwives. They are attending to duties in unprotected or partially-protected environments. The Midwife Led Care Centre (MLC) at the Charikata Union Health and Family Welfare Center (UH&FWC) in Sylhet, Bangladesh, is such a center where midwives are continuing their care and services despite unfavorable circumstances.

 Read more…. Maternity Care Amid Covid-19 Outbreak Story of midwives from a remote rural area in Bangladesh

This rapid-response article (1) seeks to describe the quick and dramatic changes occurring in birth practices across the United States resulting from the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and the life-threatening disease it produces, Covid-19. Long before the Covid-19 epidemic hit the United States, the medicalization of pregnancy had led to a broad acceptance of birthing as hospital-based—where it is often treated like a dysfunctional mechanical process and its normal physiology is ignored. We explore the question of how Covid-19 is causing women and birth providers to look at birth differently, given that hospitals are now more than ever being perceived as sites of contagion. We show that Covid-19 offers a testing ground for ongoing debates about the efficacy of maternity care and the safety of hospital versus out-of-hospital (OOH) births. We conclude by suggesting specific policy changes to generate effective maternity care in the face of future pandemics and other disasters that are bound to increase in our era of the climate crisis.

 Read more…. The Impacts of Covid-19 on Birth Practices in the United States

How has Covid-19, the disease from the novel coronavirus affected your country?

Have you done anything different with pregnant and birthing women during this time?

 Read more…. Country Contacts – Issue 134

he world is witnessing a huge outbreak of deadly Covid-19, or novel coronavirus. Similarly, India is also struggling with fast-growing coronavirus. The first case of coronavirus in India was reported on January 30, 2020, in a student who was brought to Kerala from Wuhan University (China). Thereafter, it rose to three cases, confined to Kerala, and all were students who returned from Wuhan University. No significant increase in cases was seen in February.

 Read more…. Initiatives for Pregnant and Birthing Women in India during Covid-19 Pandemic

Iran is an ancient country in the Middle East, with 7000 years of history and a population of more than 83 million. Every year around 1,300,000 children are born in Iran, and there are more than 55,000 midwives currently available.

 Read more…. Covid-19 in Iran

Times are challenging right now all over the world—especially in areas of low resources, where supplies are already stretched thin and cultural barriers exist.
New Life Birthing Centers is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which plants and operates holistic birthing centers that offer free evidence-based care in low resource countries. We currently operate in the Andean area of Ecuador and are opening in the Dominican Republic.

 Read more…. Ecuador’s New Life Birthing Centers at the Time of Covid-19