The White Ribbon Alliance’s Elena Ateva describes the implementation of Step 1:
Provide Respect, Dignity and Informed Choice
Treat every woman and newborn with respect and dignity, fully informing and communicating with the woman and her family in decision making about care for herself and her baby in a culturally safe and sensitive manner ensuring her the right to informed consent and refusal. Incorporate a rights-based approach, preventing exclusion and maltreatment of the marginalized and socioeconomically disadvantaged, and including protection of HIV-positive women and women who experience perinatal loss. Under no circumstances is physical, verbal or emotional abuse of women, their newborns and their families ever allowed.
Elena Ateva is an attorney and human rights advocacy who is the Advocacy Manager for the White Ribbon Alliance.
Access WRA’s Respectful Maternity Care Charter: The Universal Rights of Women and Newborns here: https://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/r…
Resources here: https://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/r…
Provide Free or Affordable Care with Cost Transparency.
Respect every woman’s right to access and receive non-discriminatory and free or affordable care throughout the continuum of childbearing. Inform families about what charges can be anticipated, if any, and how they might plan to pay for services. Make costs for prenatal education and antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum care visible, transparent and in line with national guidelines. Include risk pooling for complications (no additional charge for caesarean delivery or other complications). Forbid under-the-table payments and routinely enforce this rule. Under no circumstances should a woman or baby be refused care or detained after birth for lack of payment.
Professor Soo Downe, Ann Yates (International Confederation of Midwives, Evita Fernandez and India Kaur (Fernandez Foundation) present Step 3:
Routinely Provide MotherBaby-Family Maternity Care.
Incorporate value- and partnership-based care grounded in evidence-based practice and driven by health needs and expectations as well as by health outcomes and cost effectiveness. Base care provision on what women want for their newborns and families during the childbirth continuum. Optimize the normal bio-psycho-social processes of childbirth by promoting the midwifery philosophy and scope of practice for most women, within a system that ensures multi-disciplinary collaboration, communication and care for women and newborns, including those with obstetric-neonatal risk and/or complications. Ensure that this MotherBaby-Family care model is available at all levels of care and in any setting and is provided by individual skilled health workers with the full scope of competencies, or within a team with combined competencies.