Symposium on Strengthening Midwifery

6:00 am

Dina and I are here in Washington, DC for the historic event entitled, A Symposium on Strengthening Midwifery. Gera Simkins, MANA president, is still sleeping but Dina and I are going over to the convention center early. Dina will be filming the event. I will be blogging more throughout the day about what this event is all about. Just to give you a taste, last night we had a quick check in with the president of the International Confederation of Midwives, Bridget Lynch. The president of FIGO, the world organization of Obstetricians and Gynecologists was there as well. He's from Egypt. There were also representatives from the United Nations Population Fund and Johns Hopkins. The agenda for today has introductions from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, The World Bank, Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics (JHPIEGO), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and a government perspective from the State Minister of Health from Bangladesh. There will be around 200 people at this event with possible only 3 representatives from the United States' midwifery organizations (us and the ACNM.)
Don't know what to expect fully, but very excited. Stay tuned!