Rooted in Care: Celebrating the Midwifery Journey
About the Author Renny Ully is an Indonesian midwife with more than 20 years of experience across community, primary healthcare, hospital and educational settings. She holds a masters degree in midwifery from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and worked in Qatar for 6 years before moving to the UK, where she now works as […]
World Sepsis Day: what do midwives need to know?
September 13th marks World Sepsis Day, an initiative raising awareness of one of the world’s most urgent health challenges. Sepsis impacts millions of people around the world each year, and is associated with 1 in 5 deaths worldwide. Of these figures, maternal sepsis contributes to a significant proportion of pregnancy- and childbirth-related deaths, with a […]
Routes into midwifery: Should midwives be nurses first?
As a young lecturer, I was lucky enough to teach on the first Direct Entry degree programme in the UK. Students on the programme were very different to me. I had gone into midwifery from nursing because there was no direct entry route at that time. Students on the direct entry programme were often mature […]
We cannot celebrate rising numbers of midwifery registrants while the future workforce is under threat
Fiona Gibb, the RCM’s Director of Midwifery, on why this year’s NMC registration data is a warning. Every year the NMC publishes a snapshot of who is joining, staying and leaving the professions it regulates. When I read it, I look for one thing above all else: are enough midwives coming into the profession? This year, the answer is no. The […]
Is the ICM Congress a Midwifery compass for maternity leaders, researchers, educators and clinical practitioners?
It is a month since we all returned to our countries following the 34th ICM congress in Lisbon, 12 -18 of June 2026. More than 3000 midwives from all over the world gathered to discuss, develop and advance the midwifery profession. Of course, there was strong representation form the United Kingdom, with more than 200 […]
More than a job: my life as a male maternity support worker
About the Author Shane North is a father of three and a maternity support worker, a role he describes as “the best job in the world”. As a teenager he wanted to be a midwife after seeing the care his mum received with his sister, although that flame was initially extinguished by external opinions of […]
‘Gold’: Poetic Reflections of a Community Midwife
About the Author Helen Fayers is a community midwife in the Acorn Team at Ipswich Hospital ESNEFT Trust, a small team who specialise in supporting pregnant people who are considered complex, vulnerable or disadvantaged. She completed her training at the University of Suffolk. Helen has been a midwife for over 7 years, and moved into […]
Looking back with gratitude and moving forward with hope
Before travelling to Lisbon for the ICM 34th Triennial Congress, I wrote that I hoped to leave with the same passion for midwifery and a greater understanding of maternity care around the world. I can now say with certainty that I left with far more than I ever imagined. Like many student midwives, the end […]
ICM Opening ceremony a student perspective
Putting the experience into words feels almost impossible. The opening ceremony of the ICM Congress 2026 was powerful, emotional, and deeply unifying. From the outset, global leaders in maternity care from the UK, Bangladesh, Portugal, Switzerland, and beyond took to the stage with honesty and courage. No issue was avoided. They spoke openly about conflict, […]
The opening ceremony: Dancing with the flags
The opening ceremony was nothing short of extraordinary, bringing together an inspiring community of 3,000 midwives from every corner of the globe. It was a moment that beautifully captured the unity, pride, and shared purpose that defines the midwifery profession. One of the most moving highlights of the ceremony was the flag procession. Midwifery leaders […]