{"id":534992,"date":"2022-09-02T17:11:14","date_gmt":"2022-09-03T00:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&p=534992"},"modified":"2022-09-02T17:11:14","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T00:11:14","slug":"supporting-midwives-worldwide","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/supporting-midwives-worldwide","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Midwives Worldwide"},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10562,24982,430101],"tags":[481482,325142,197122,443991],"arcuser_issues":[481302],"class_list":["post-534992","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arcgis-hub","category-end-notes","category-public-health","tag-direct-relief","tag-giscorps","tag-nonprofit","tag-volunteers","arcuser_issues-arcuser-summer-2022"],"acf":{"short_description":"GISCorps volunteers aids Direct Relief to create a data sharing site for the International Confederation of Midwives.","pdf":{"host_remotely":true,"file":535012,"file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","content":"Three GISCorps<\/a> volunteers helped Direct Relief and the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) launch a hub site using ArcGIS Hub to provide data, information, and resources to the worldwide community of midwives."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"According to the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF), more than 800 women die each day from complications that occur during their pregnancies or in childbirth. For each of these women, another 20 women suffer serious injuries, infections, or disabilities related to childbirth.\r\n\r\nProperly trained and equipped midwives can provide up to 90 percent of the essential health interventions for pregnant people and their newborns. The profession of midwifery predates modern obstetrics, tracing back to ancient times, and has been practiced by indigenous cultures all over the world. More recently, midwives were nurses who undertook additional study. Currently midwives become qualified by obtaining a dedicated university degree. They can work in many settings, such as maternity wards in hospitals, birth centers, and obstetricians\u2019 offices.\r\n\r\nICM, an accredited nongovernmental organization (NGO), supports professional associations of midwives throughout the world. Its member associations represent 117 countries in six regions. Furthermore, ICM collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), other UN agencies, and an international roster of professional health-care associations and other NGOs.\r\n\r\nA nongovernmental, nonsectarian, and not-for-profit humanitarian aid organization that is active throughout the United States and in more than 80 other countries, Direct Relief<\/a>\u00a0 has \u201ca mission to improve the lives of people who are endangered by poverty or emergencies\u2014without regard to their politics, religion, or ability to pay.\u201d This includes supporting midwife-led continuity of care (MLCC), which is an evidence-based approach to improving health outcomes for women and babies during vulnerable periods of pregnancy and childbirth.\r\n