International Confederation of Midwives

The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) supports, represents and works to strengthen professional associations of midwives on a global basis. At present, ICM has over 100 members, representing midwifery associations in around 100 countries.

The ICM works with midwives and midwifery associations globally to secure women’s rights and access to midwifery care before, during and after childbirth. The ICM has worked alongside UN agencies and other partners for decades in global initiatives to help reduce the numbers of mothers and babies who die in and around childbirth, and evidence is growing that shows expanding midwifery care is one of the best ways to combat maternal mortality. The drive for safer motherhood continues to gain strength as more women worldwide achieve access to midwifery care.

ICM envisions a world where every childbearing woman has access to a midwife's care for herself and her newborn.

ICM seeks to strengthen member associations and to advance the profession of midwifery globally by promoting autonomous midwives as the most appropriate caregivers for childbearing women and in keeping birth normal, in order to enhance the reproductive health of women, and the health of their newborn and their families.

"ICM Global standards for midwifery education" are one of the essential pillars of ICM’s efforts to strengthen midwifery worldwide by preparing fully qualified midwives to provide high quality, evidence-based health services for women,newborns and childbearing families. The education standards were developed in tandem with the update of essential competencies for basic midwifery practice, which define the core content of any midwifery education programme. They are available on the ICM Website in English, French and Spanish.

It is known that midwives have been making efforts to meet internationally for over 100 years. There are records of a midwives´ conference held in Berlin, Germany, in the year 1900, when over 1,000 midwives attended. This was arranged at a time without the use of telephones, computers, credit cards or aeroplanes, and women travelling on their own was difficult and not always acceptable.

In 1919, a group of European midwives, centred in Antwerp, Belgium, established the first beginnings of what was to become the International Confederation of Midwives. By this time, many countries already had a national association of midwives; communication among them increased and a series of regular meetings was launched.

During the 1930s and 1940s, travel and communication in Europe was disrupted by war and unrest. Unfortunately, the detailed records of the earlier midwives´ meetings and documents were destroyed. However, the desire to continue international work was still strong. In 1954, the initiative grew again and this time the location was London, UK. For the first time, the name of ´International Confederation of Midwives´ was decided, and also the idea of regular triennial congresses was established. Since 1954 the series of such meetings every three years has remained unbroken.

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Wikipedia