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New Global Partnership Strengthens Midwives’ Capacity to Protect Mothers and Newborns from Climate-Related Risks

The Maternity Foundation, the International Confederation of Midwives, or ICM, and Direct Relief announce a new partnership to support midwives in safeguarding women and newborns from the severe impacts of climate change.

News

Maternal Health

A midwife in Syria opens a Direct Relief midwife kit that contains essential items to support safe births.
Heba, a midwife at a hospital run by Syria Relief and Development in Jindires, NW Syria, utilizes a midwife kit provided by Direct Relief. (Photo by Boraq Albsha for Syria Relief and Development)
By Brea Burkholz

Climate change is intensifying the dangers faced by pregnant women and newborns worldwide, putting access to safe, reliable care at risk for millions. Extreme heat is associated with hypertensive disorders, preterm labor, and stillbirth, while floods, storms, and other climate-related disasters disrupt access to essential maternal and newborn healthcare.

In these challenging contexts, midwives play a critical role. As trusted community-based providers, they are often the last to leave and the first to respond, playing a vital role in protecting women and newborns during climate-related emergencies.

“Our partnership with Direct Relief and Maternity Foundation is particularly relevant in a world facing compounding crises. Climate change is increasing risks for women and newborns while also disrupting access to care. Midwives are uniquely positioned to provide essential services in these contexts, but they must be enabled with the right tools, competencies, and support. This collaboration strengthens midwives’ ability to deliver quality care, wherever and whenever it is needed,” said Anna af Ugglas, Chief Executive, ICM.

New “Climate-Wise Care” Module in the Safe Delivery App

As climate-related disruptions become more frequent, the need for accessible, field-ready guidance for frontline providers has never been greater. To support midwives’ vital work, the three organizations have partnered to develop a Climate-Wise Maternal and Newborn Care module within the Safe Delivery App—Maternity Foundation’s free, evidence-based job aid, training, and microlearning tool designed to support midwives in providing quality care in fragile, remote, and low-resource settings.

The new module will:

  • Equip midwives with practical, evidence-based guidance for delivering quality maternal and newborn care in climate-impacted environments
  • Ensure care can continue during power outages, natural disasters, or connectivity failures through offline functionality
  • Strengthen preparedness, decision-making, and resilience at the community level during climate shocks

The module will launch first in global English and the Filipino national version of the Safe Delivery App. Further language expansions will follow pending the availability of additional resources. To date, the Safe Delivery App and its accompanying training programs have reached more than 500,000 midwives and other healthcare professionals worldwide.

“I’m truly excited about this partnership between Maternity Foundation, ICM, and Direct Relief. By introducing a new module on providing quality care in climate-affected settings within our global digital platform, the Safe Delivery App, we are taking an important first step toward supporting midwives worldwide in protecting women and newborns from the impacts of climate change,” said Anna Frellsen, CEO, Maternity Foundation.

A Collaboration for Global Impact

The module is being jointly developed by Maternity Foundation and ICM, and funded by Direct Relief, with rollout supported through ICM’s global network of midwives’ associations and Direct Relief’s humanitarian infrastructure and longstanding presence in disaster-affected and fragile settings around the world.

“Every woman deserves access to safe, reliable care throughout pregnancy and childbirth, and every newborn deserves a healthy start to life,” said Amy Weaver, CEO of Direct Relief. “As access to care is increasingly disrupted due to extreme weather, midwives are often the ones who remain, continuing to care for women and newborns when other systems are strained or unavailable. This partnership reflects our shared commitment to supporting those providers with practical tools and resources so they can care for mothers and babies in any setting, while strengthening the systems communities depend on before, during, and after a crisis.”

As the partnership launches, the introduction of the Climate-Wise Care module marks the beginning of a broader collaborative effort to build a climate-resilient midwifery workforce, with the potential to expand access to life-saving care for women and newborns in vulnerable communities worldwide.

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