The Innovations in Maternity Health Service Committee will focus on the continuing problems with access to maternity services at this year's APHA Annual Meeting in Denver in November.  The Committee will use their planned sessions as well as their business meeting to advocate for better national and state policies to improve maternity services for all women. The committee has three planned sessions dealing with social justice and birth issues, and the business sessions will be used to organize the planned advocacy effort.

The APHA Annual Meeting is a great backdrop for this policy discussion and advocacy planning. Not only does the meeting bring public health personnel together to learn and to share, but it is also a great place for individuals to recharge to meet their goals.

The three sessions sponsored by the committee this year in Denver include:

·         # 3408.0 Monday, Nov. 8, 2010: 4:30-6:00 p.m.:  Social Justice at the Time of Birth: Improving Access and Quality of Maternity Services

·         # 4329.0 Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010 4:30-5:30 p.m.: MCH Poster Session II

·         # 5118.0 Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010 10:30-12:00 p.m.: Strengthening Maternal and Child Health Services: a Starting Point for Social Justice

After more than a year of debate about health care reform, the number and magnitude of problems have been well discussed.  Will the new Health Care Reform bill fix the problems we see in maternity care provision?  This year the Maternal and Child Health Section and the Innovations Committee will be discussing these issues. 

The Committee meeting on Tuesday will be a breakfast meeting, time and place to be announced at our Monday session. The planning for the advocacy program will be the main agenda of that meeting. We are looking for increased participation and new members. The mission of the Innovations in Maternity Health Services Committee is to raise the hard questions in childbirth -- in the past, these have included topics such as:  

·         Why do maternity care providers do what they do?  

·         Are all the hospital based maternal procedures necessary? 

·         Is such care mother and child friendly? 

·         Does it help have better outcomes? 

The continued growth of technology has caused loss of control by childbearing families of their birth options, and our Committee focuses on alternatives to traditional obstetrics, including midwives, birth centers, and home birth. The present crisis in malpractice is forcing us to look at the even bigger picture:  WHO IS GOING TO CATCH THE BABIES?  There is a need to establish a national conversation on this vital issue. At this time, the Committee feels that the underlying structure of maternal health care should be evaluated as part of the discussion of access to maternity care.

Looking forward to seeing you in Denver!

Barb Levin (BarbL11@aol.com)