Midwives on Demand

We are ready to disrupt maternity care

Are you ready to join us?

There are 140 million births per year across the World.  This would lead us to believe that pregnancy and birth should be normal life events but the bottom line is that…..

• Hundreds of thousands of women and babies are dying every year, in fact 830 women die from childbirth related illnesses every day.  What is even more frightening is that not all of these deaths are  happening in developing countries - there are still women dying in the developed world today.  Most of these deaths are avoidable.

• Babies are also dying - 2.4 million new born babies die within the first 28 days of life every year. According to a joint report by the WHO and UNICEF 1 baby is stillborn every 16 seconds. The main causes of death are preterm birth, congenital abnormalities and birth related trauma, including asphyxia (oxygen deprivation).  Most of these deaths are also preventable.

• If you are a woman from the BME community you are twice as likely to die and if you live in poverty this risk increases to 80%.  These statistics are based in the UK. In the US today women are twice as likely to die from childbirth than their own mothers or grandmothers.  It doesn’t matter if you live in a rich country or a poor country your pregnancy puts you at risk.

• These are just the physical impacts of pregnancy – 1 in 7 women will suffer with postnatal depression, it is estimated that over 20 million women a year have some form of mental illness related to their pregnancy and birth.

and it’s not just the women.........

• Men suffer too – 1 in 10 Dads will become depressed during their partners pregnancy, and most of these are first time Dads. 

• The impact on children is often unspoken - children who grow up with parents who suffer with mental health disorders, and are unable to bond with their babies, often find relationships difficult and might not be as ready to face the world as they should be.

And then along came COVID 19……

• Reducing face to face access, family support and increasing anxiety and stress. Perinatal mental health issues have increased in both women, men and children, in fact some mental health helplines have reported an increase of over 300% in calls from pregnant women since April 2020.

• There is also concern about the indirect results of COVID which may include an increase in stillbirth rates – mainly due to lack or delayed access to care.

The majority of these issues are preventable and many major health organisations worldwide, including the World Health Organisation, state that a lack of information is one of the main causes that prevents women from receiving the care that they need.

We want to take that a step further and say that it is not just a lack of information but the ability for women to gain the knowledge needed, and then be able to apply it to their own individual circumstances. In fact, information is everywhere – and that is the problem, it is literally everywhere.  Most of it is out of date and poor quality and not based in evidence at all.

The WHO and UNICEF state that it is the lack of investment in maternity care and the lack of access to good, safe midwifery care that remains a key challenge.

One of the other challenges is that maternity services are also notoriously slow at adopting innovation – Antenatal care has not changed in over 100 years. More importantly adoption of digital innovation is even slower which is a problem for the generation of pregnant women who now live online – Generation Z spend at least 7 hours a day using their phone! 

This all seems so overwhelming – it seems like too big a problem but we do not believe that to be true.  

According to Statista.com 59% of the global population are active internet users – that is 4.6 billion people.  Mobile has now become the most important channel to access the internet worldwide and mobile internet users account for 91% of total internet users.  This means that even if a woman in a poor country does not have access to the internet she will more than likely know someone that does!

MATERNITY CARE NEEDS DISRUPTING…..BUT HOW?

Birth Tribe Connections have an innovative digital solution to ensure that all women, across the world have access to a midwife and the information that they need, when they need it, in a way that they can understand it.

Donating will help us to kick start our solution and start making a change sooner!

The one stop solution to disrupt maternity care as we know it and change the world for women and babies everywhere, forever will include:

• Immediate connection to midwives and experts via live chat, video or audio chat
• Group classes for mental wellbeing
• Expert advice and information - evidence based and trusted
• Insurance provision for our midwives and experts
• Pregnancy and parenting technologies

Our aim is to give the power back to women and make sure that every pregnant woman has access to all the information and resources she needs, when she needs it.  

We are passionate about giving women, not just the information, but the knowledge on how to use it. To keep them safe, to keep them healthy and their babies healthy too.

But who are Birth Tribe Connections?

Well we are midwives with over 35 years of experience between us. 

Birth Tribe Connections is a charity and has a mission to give any woman, anywhere, access to midwives and to safe and trusted information.

We have dedicated our midwifery careers to supporting pregnant women to have access to safe and effective midwifery care that gives them the ability to make the right decisions about their maternity care that has the most impact on their lives, and on the lives of their babies.

We have seen first-hand the positive long term impact that this can have on women’s health and on the health of their families. When women become confident in their decision making about their pregnancy and birth, they become confident in making decisions that impact on the whole family.

We have set up other organisations (including One to One Midwives, which was the first NHS commissioned service to provide community midwifery services. Our service was commissioned for 9 years and we cared for over 20,000 families achieving the best outcomes of any maternity provider in the UK.  Including a lower pre term birth rate and stillbirth rate) but we knew that providing care in this way limited access to the women that needed it the most and we wanted ANY woman from anywhere in the world to have the ability to make the right informed choices for them and for their families.

So we established Birth Tribe Connections.

We know that we now have the solution, and more importantly the passion and commitment needed to disrupt maternity care, but we really need your help to get started and begin changing the world for more women and babies.

When you donate to our project this is what we will be doing:

• We are going to provide more women with access to virtual midwifery care (at the same time this will relieve the pressure on the NHS and other maternity services).
• We are going to widen our virtual specialist services – with an immediate focus on perinatal mental health support and also on IVF support.
• We are going to develop even more content and resources for new parents.
• We are going to launch ‘live’ classes, including hypnobirthing courses and mindful parenting classes
• We are going to build a ‘virtual’ community and provide access to the tools and support that women need at the touch of a button and at the same time we are going to reduce the pregnancy and parenting isolation that women face globally, especially in these difficult times of COVID 19. 

We cannot wait to get started on this project - we have put our heart and soul into creating the plans and we need your help to put those plans into action.

If you believe in birth like we do - please help us today by:

• Donating to our project - every little helps, we are grateful for every pound, dollar or euro that we receive
• Share our project so more people can see it and help us make a change
• Follow our story and watch us change the world. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and on our website.