Women Deliver Conference 2010

Often as we work towards lowering the cesarean rate and improving maternal care in DC, we forget that there is another side to the coin. There are places in the world with poor outcomes where a higher cesarean rate would be a blessing. To shed some light on the plight of women and girls throughout the world Women Deliver is holding a conference in the DC area in June 2010.

From their website:

Women Deliver 2010, a global conference, will be held in Washington DC on June 7-9, 2010. The theme of the conference is: "Delivering solutions for girls and women," and we plan to focus on political, economic, social/cultural, and technological solutions. This global meeting will expand on Women Deliver's hallmark of inclusivity, reaching out to new partners and new communities. With all these partners in one room, we will further prove that maternal and reproductive health is a global priority. Women Deliver 2010 will move the dialogue to the global arena with two strong messages:

•The MDGs will not be achieved without investing in women.
•There is just enough time, if the world commits funding now, to achieve MDG5 — additional US$10 billion annually by 2010 and US$20 billion by 2015.

For more information or to register to attend the conference, please visit their website.

VBAC Petition: Please sign!

VBAC Access Petition

Please sign this petition to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). The authors of the petition and those who sign it are asking that ACOG look at the recent position statement from the National Institute of Health on vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC). ACOG has stated a rather strict (and some say hardly feasible) set of guidelines for choosing a candidate for trial of labor (TOL). According to the NIH statement, they should rethink their position on VBAC access and include the mothers themselves in the decision making process.