Birth Rights

Step 1

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.

Step 2

Respect every woman’s right to access and receive non-discriminatory and free or affordable care throughout the continuum of childbearing.

Step 3

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.

Step 4

Inform the mother of the benefits of continuous support during labour and birth, and affirm her right to receive such support from companion(s) of her choice.

Step 5

Offer drug-free comfort and pain relief measures as safe first options, explaining their benefits for facilitating normal birth.

Step 6

Provide and promote specific evidence-based practices proven to be beneficial in supporting the normal physiology of labour, birth, and the postpartum and neonatal periods.

Step 7

Avoid potentially harmful procedures that have insufficient evidence of benefit outweighing risk for routine or frequent use in normal pregnancy, labour, birth and the postpartum and neonatal period.

Step 8

Implement educational and public health measures that enhance wellness and prevent illness and complications for the MotherBaby.

Step 9

Provide access to skilled emergency treatment for life-threatening complications. Ensure that staff are trained in timely recognition of potentially dangerous conditions and complications and in providing effective treatment or stabilization, and have established links for consultation and an accessible and reliable system of transport.

Step 10

Have a supportive human resource policy in place for recruitment and retention of all staff, and to ensure that staff are safe, secure, and encouraged and enabled to provide quality care in a respectful and positive work environment.

Step 11

Provide a continuum of collaborative maternal and newborn care with all relevant health care educators, providers, institutions and organizations.

Step 12

Achieve the 10 Steps of the revised Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (2018). Protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding in facilities providing maternity services

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