The Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) was founded in April 1982 to build cooperation among

midwives A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...

and to promote

midwifery Midwifery is the health science and health profession that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period (including care of the newborn), in addition to the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout their lives. In many ...

as a means of improving health care for North American

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

and their families. Its stated goal is to unify and strengthen the profession of midwifery, thereby improving the quality of health care for women,

babies An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

, and communities.

History

When MANA was founded there were many organizations that midwives had been instrumental in organizing and that provided a means of communication and support. However none had a membership base broad enough, an internal support system, or the political credibility to promote midwifery as an accepted part of the maternal-child health care system in North America. In October 1981, Sister Angela Murdaugh, of th
American College of Nurse-Midwives
invited four non-nurse midwives and four nurse-midwives from around the country to

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to discuss issues confronting all midwives, with special emphasis on the communication concerns between

American midwives American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

trained as

nurses Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

and those who were not formally trained. A decision was made to form a "Guild" that would include all midwives with four purposes in mind: to expand communication among midwives; to set educational and training guidelines; to set guidelines for basic competency and safety for practicing midwives; and to form an identifiable

professional organization A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that profession, and th ...

for all midwives in the U.S. Throughout its history MANA has advocated for the belief that birthing mothers should be able to choose their places and caregivers at birth and that midwifery should be decriminalized. In April 1982, nearly 100 women from around the country met in Lexington, Kentucky. At this meeting the name Midwives Alliance of North America was chosen, and it was decided that Canadian midwives would be included in the organization. Officers were chosen and a newsletter Practicing Midwife (changed to MANA News in 1983) was established. In October 1983, the first MANA convention was held, and the members elected Teddy Charvet as President,

Ina May Gaskin Ina May Gaskin (born March 8, 1940) is an American midwife who has been described as "the mother of authentic midwifery."Granju, K.A. (1999"The Midwife of Modern Midwifery"Salon.com, Brilliant Careers. She helped found the self-sustaining communi ...

as Vice President, and Rena Porteus as second Vice President. Much of MANA's organizational energy has been directed toward making national midwifery certification acceptable and workable within the medical community and thereby accessible to women. By 1986, it had become clear that midwives needed to create an internationally accepted direct-entry midwifery credential if they were to preserve the unique forms of practice which midwives had developed over the last thirty years and at the same time work within the larger healthcare community. To this end MANA launched th
North American Registry of Midwives
(NARM). NARM became a separately incorporated entity in 1992 and since has developed a competency-based certification process. Out of the formal support network generated by MANA, th
Midwifery Education Accreditation Council
(MEAC) was established in 1991. In conjunction with NARM, it accredits a wide variety of direct-entry midwifery educational programs, including apprenticeships, thus formally validating and preserving ancient as well as modern routes to practice.

Goals

According to the MANA website, the organization's goals are: * To engage midwives in dialog and to encourage solidarity across North America. * To recognize the diversity among midwives and to foster inclusive community building. * To build an identity as a cohesive organization representing the profession as well as the tradition of midwifery at regional, national and international levels. * To position midwives as acknowledged authorities, working to improve perinatal health in collaboration with other professionals. * To collect and disseminate high quality research about midwifery care. * To promote excellence in midwifery practice. * To sponsor continuing education opportunities for midwives. * To increase access to midwives in all settings. * To endorse the Midwives Model of Care as the gold standard for childbirth. * To affirm the rights of pregnant women to give birth where and with whom they choose.

Membership

MANA membership includes midwives and student midwives, other healthcare providers, and families. Over one-third of MANA's member midwives are certified professional midwives (CPMs), the remainder are certified nurse midwives, certified midwives, state-licensed midwives, traditional midwives, and student/apprentice midwives.

Research

MANA's Division of Research maintains a registry of midwife-assisted births in the US and Canada, that can be made available for use in research upon request. Published research has provided descriptive evidence on practice and safety of recorded home births, but contribution to the data set is voluntary and direct comparisons to hospital births remain difficult.

References

External links

Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA)Midwives' Alliance of North America records
at the

Sophia Smith Collection The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history. General One of the largest recognized repositories of manuscripts, a ...