What makes a good birth? A healthy mother and child is the first priority, but a good experience is also important. A new documentary, Birth Time, looks at Australian experiences of childbirth. Cassie McCullagh on Focus spoke to two of the filmmakers, Zoe Naylor and Jo Hunter. Listening the this conversation, the problems are highlighted, solutions

Does the maternity care system need to change? ‘Birth Time’ is a documentary film about birth trauma, an issue affecting many women – with over 300,000 births taking place in Australia each year one third of those new mothers reported that they emerged from their birth experience feeling traumatised. Listen to the Babytalk interview with

Postpartum haemorrhage - excessive blood loss after birth Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is a leading cause of maternal death and ill health. The incidence of PPH is reported to have increased in recent decades in high-resource countries, including Australia. Why is this so? A recently published research asked: Is the increase in postpartum haemorrhage after vaginal

Brazen Hussies The struggle continues today - same same but different   Brazen Hussies is a documentary that celebrates the history of Australian feminism and remains very relevant today as the struggle continues today. You can view Brazen Hussies (https://iview.abc.net.au/show/brazen-hussies) You view a trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTOccDdT0Gg)  

State of the World’s Mothers The birth of a child should be a time of wonder and celebration. But for millions of mothers and babies in developing countries, it is a dance with death. https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLlg02FQK1_uNFTEvewWoQ_ZG4nL2UFp2l&time_continue=9&v=L_jWAqalgxg&feature=emb_title   https://scalingupnutrition.org/news/save-the-children-release-the-16th-report-on-the-state-of-the-worlds-mothers/  

Making an informed decision during maternity care? Decisions are crucial to our relationships with the experts we rely on for maternity care. As consumers of maternity care we need to be enabled, informed and afforded agency in any decision to be made by us regarding our maternity care.  We need to be able to tell

Dignity in Maternity Care is Respectful Care Dignity is a touchstone concept in human rights, ethics, politics, philosophy and Respectful Maternity Care.  Human dignity is inalienable right, based on the inherent human worth of a person.  Hence, pregnant women should never be treated as a means to the ends of others. Dignity is the opposite

Women are the solution – not the problem We call on governments and maternity care providers to refocus the maternity care discussion. Women are often made out to be the problem in maternity care. This causes suffering both physically and mentally for women. A Problem is something we do understand and thus we do not

To have the birth you want the two big decisions that have to be made are: Where you are going to give birth? and Who is going to provide your maternity care? The biggest impact on your birth outcomes will be where you decide to birth and who will provide your maternity care. Whether you