Birthing on Country
The best start in life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies and their families.
Birthing on Country is a metaphor for the best start in life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies and their families, an appropriate transition to motherhood and parenting for women and an integrated, holistic and culturally appropriate model of care for all.
History
For more than 60,000 years Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have birthed their babies on traditional lands.
Birthing on Country has been described as an international movement with the overarching aim of returning birthing services to Indigenous communities and Indigenous control to enable a healthy start to life.
The Birthing on Country agenda relates to system-wide reform and is perceived as an important opportunity in ‘closing the gap’ between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health and quality of life outcomes.
In 2012, the Australian Maternity Services Inter-jurisdictional Committee, in collaboration with the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, held the first national Birthing on Country Workshop to progress Australian Government commitment to Birthing on Country.
People gathered from across Australia, with a strong Indigenous presence, to discuss Birthing on Country and determine the next steps. Participants agreed that the Birthing on Country project, should move from being aspirational (policy) to actual (implementation). They recommended exemplar sites be set up in urban, rural, remote and very remote communities and funded for success and sustainability.
The Birthing on Country agenda relates to system-wide reform and is perceived as an important opportunity in ‘closing the gap’ between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health and quality of life outcomes.
The Grandmother's Law
Birthing on Country Workshop
-July 2012
News & Media
Adrian Carson and Kristie Watego with Dr Norman Swan about holistic and health childbirth for Indigenous women
Effect of a Birthing on Country service redesignon maternal and neonatal health outcomes for FirstNations Australians: a prospective, non-randomised, interventional trial. The Lancet Global Health.
Charles Darwin University midwifery researchers are calling for Indigenous-led birthing centres to expand across Australia after a seven-year study found a 50 per cent decrease in preterm births and an improvement in breastfeeding and antenatal care for First Nations families.
New IBUS paper shows Birthing in Our Community program reduced preterm birth, more women attending antenatal care and more breastfeeding.
The IBUS Study provides evidence that working in collaboration with community-controlled organisations is the key to reducing pre-term birth and enables Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies the best start to life.
Beyond 2020: Addressing racism through transformative Indigenous health and cultural safety education
Lawurppa told the girls that she actually attended school on the current Haileybury Rendall School campus in the early 1970s. read more here.
Listen to the NITV podcast to meet the dedicated women who are working hard to try and get birthing services on country on the remote community of Galiwinku on Elcho island NT.
COVID and Maternity Care for First Nations Australians