Purposes of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative

The IMBCI is both educational and instrumental in purpose.

Its educational purpose is to call global attention to the importance of the quality of the mother's birth experience and its impact on the outcome and the scientific evidence showing the benefits of MotherBaby-centered care based on the normal physiology of pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding and on attention to women's individual needs.

The instrumental purpose of the IMBCI 10 Steps is to put into worldwide awareness and practice the MotherBaby model of care--a woman-centered, non-interventive approach that promotes the health and wellbeing of all women and babies during pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding, setting the gold standard for excellence and superior outcomes in maternity care.

The IMBCI acknowledges that women's rights are human rights and that women have a right to informed decision-making and to receive care that is evidence-based for themselves and their babies. The IMBCI recognizes the effects of birth practices on maternal self-confidence and on breastfeeding, and the importance of cultural sensitivity and continuity of care. These basic principles, along with the IMBCI 10 Steps, have the ability to transform birth and breastfeeding practices around the world.  With infant and maternal mortality and morbidity at distressing rates, the IMBCI is a call to action that will help achieve the Millennium Development Goals to improve the quality of care for mothers and babies of the world. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals

History of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI)

The Role of CIMS

In 1996 the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services ratified the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI): 10 Steps to Mother-Friendly Hospitals, Birth Centers, and Home Birth Services for the U.S. (For the history and full text of the MFCI, go to www.motherfriendly.org .) In subsequent years, CIMS received many requests from individual groups in various countries to help them create their own initiatives, and then began receiving an increasing number of requests to create a global initiative, especially from representatives of various birth-related organizations who began attending the CIMS conferences in the U.S.  

In response, in 2002 CIMS created an International Committee, which subsequently received a grant  in 2005 to develop an international initiative. Childbirth Connection, a recognized leader in maternity care quality improvement, was instrumental in supporting the project. The CIMS International Committee created a network of regional and country representatives, who identifed contact information for hundreds of international maternity and breastfeeding organizations in 163 countries, including grassroots consumer groups, health-care professionals, government organizations, and nongovernmental agencies around the world, generating the world's largest international database on maternity and breastfeeding organizations.

An International Survey on the 10 Steps of the CIMS Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI)

The Center for Women's Health Research at the University of North Carolina www.cwhr.unc.edu used this information to conduct a global survey of the 10 steps of the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative, with the exception of Step 9 on circumcision, which is not an issue in most countries, and with an additional question on informed decision making—a point strongly emphasized by the international representatives. The survey results found 80-95% agreement on each of the steps and on the importance of informed decision-making.

This survey assured the CIMS International Committee that there was strong international support for the principles and goals of the U.S. Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative, and that support provided a sound basis for creating the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI). This name was chosen to draw attention to the mother and baby as one integral unit, a dyad that should not be separated, and because the IMBCI places a great deal of emphasis on the impact of birth practices on breastfeeding.

Creation of the IMBCI

In May 2006, the CIMS International Committee held a Steering Committee meeting in Chapel Hill at the University of North Carolina to hear the survey results and to work on the wording of an initial draft of the IMBCI.

In June 2006, CIMS International and Childbirth Connection held a Technical Advisory Group meeting in Geneva, Switzerland to present and refine the initial draft of the Initiative, to gauge the level of interest that other key international organizations might have in supporting and promoting the Initiative, and, if support was high, to make plans for its worldwide distribution.

Invited to the Geneva meeting were representatives from WHO, UNICEF, the WHO/UNICEF Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, UNFPA, USAID, FIGO, CIMS, Childbirth Connection, Lamaze International, DONA International, La Leche League International, Wellstart International, the World Alliance of Breastfeeding Associations (WABA), the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA), the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), the International Council of Nurses (ICN), the International Pediatric Association (IPA), the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, the Partnership for Maternal and Child Health,  the White Ribbon Alliance, and JPHIEGO.  See the full names and links for these organizations here.                                                              

There was tremendous support for this Initiative from all present, and many hours were spent refining the wording of the document in a very rewarding group process, as well as discussing possibilities for pilot testing the Initiative around the world and conceptualizing its future.

Over the next year, with additional international input on the document, the wording was finalized in February of 2008, and the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative was launched at the CIMS Annual Meeting in Florida on International Women's Day, March 8, 2008!

Creation of IMBCO

In 2007, with the full support of CIMS, the CIMS International Committee became a separate organization, called the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization (IMBCO). Board members of the IMBCO include Co-Chairs Debra Pascali-Bonaro and Maureen Corry; Rae Davies, Secretary; Robbie Davis-Floyd (Editor); and Mayri Lesley Sagady (CIMS Liaison). We are in the process of expanding the IMBCO Board.