Midwifery and healthcare for childbearing women and newborn infants I Professor Mary Renfrew FMedSci

Professor Mary Renfrew FMedSci, the first midwife elected as an Academy Fellow, introduces us to the work of midwife scientists across the UK and internationally. In this talk, Professor Renfrew discusses how health for ALL childbearing women and newborn infants globally is possible and the role science plays in accelerating progress and moving towards transformative change. She describes one of the large-scale collaborative projects she led, which focused on safety and quality of care, and on midwifery. Watch the video to understand the scope of the challenges in the way of achieving better maternal and infant health.
This talk was part of the event "Talks from new Fellows 2022".
Professor Mary Renfrew OBE FMedSci is Professor of Mother and Infant Health at the University of Dundee, Scotland. A midwife, health researcher and educator, Professor Renfrew has conducted research in maternity care and in infant feeding and nutrition for more than 40 years. The first midwife in the UK to gain a PhD, she has been a pioneer in establishing midwifery as an academic discipline, establishing high quality multidisciplinary research programmes and building capacity.
Her academic leadership of The Lancet Series on Midwifery evidenced the fundamental contribution of midwifery to maternal and newborn survival and health outcomes. It informed a shift in global and national policies, promoted a broader understanding of quality care, and influenced governments in low-, middle-, and high-resource countries to strengthen midwifery. For example, the government of India is implementing international-standard midwives, and education programmes for midwives in Bangladesh and across Latin America have been strengthened.
Find out more about Professor Renfrew: acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellow...
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The Academy of Medical Sciences is the independent, expert voice of biomedical and health research in the UK. Our Fellowship comprises the most influential scientists in the UK and worldwide, drawn from the NHS, academia, industry, and the public service. Our mission is to improve the health of people everywhere by creating an open and progressive research sector. We do this by working with patients and the public to influence policy and biomedical practice, strengthening UK biomedical and health research, supporting the next generation of researchers through funding and career development opportunities, and working with partners globally.
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