AROUND BIRTH & BEYOND
women's health worldwide
women's health worldwide
News
Pregnancy | Women’s Rights | Current Events
Public Health | Publications & Films | Thoughts
This section contains ideas worth sharing.
We all stand on the ‘shoulders of giants’ that have walked the path through life before us – may that be in terms of ideas, insights, teachings, research or conclusive evidence. I encourage you to read or view them and make of them what you want and if at all possible act on them in whichever way you can. Please also visit Links and Research.
Life carries a 100% fatality rate – before we leave we all can add our contribution to ensure that the generations following ours are born and raised in a world worth living and sharing.
Pregnancy
Pregnancy yoga helps to decrease frequency of labour induction, decrease pain, shorten second & third stages of labour and lower the percentage of cesarean section birth.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28438273
Pregnancy yoga reduces anxiety, depression and enhances well-being.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S174438811300042X
Pregnancy yoga may improve current mood and may be effective in reducing postpartum depressive symptoms.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1744388114000127
Ina-May Gaskin is the only midwife who has had an obstetrical manoeuver (for shoulder-dystocia) named after her: ‘The Gaskin Manoeuv er’. In 2011 Ina-May was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize the Right Livelihood Award for her outstanding achievements in midwifery. Her TEDx presentation ‘Reducing Fear of Birth’ is a MUST SEE:
Saraswathi Vedam: Home or Hospital? Holding the Space for Human Birth. Professor of Midwifery Saraswathi Vedam's inspiring TEDx talk on 17th December 2013 about safety of birth place, privacy and dignity: youtube.com/watch?v=o5V723E9wvE
Birthlight Intercultural Inspirations. Medical anthropologist Dr. Francoise Barbira-Freedman conducted extensive research among the Peruvian Indians the Yakumamai. Her vast contributions in the perinatal field are inspired and driven by her commitment to support the conservation of traditional knowledge within its original context. Watch the whole series (7) on YouTube, find the first three links here:
Birthlight Yoga Dance for Pregnancy: Introduction
Birthlight Yoga Dance: Ethnic Dance Forms & Pregnancy Yoga
Birthlight Yoga Dance: The Elephant Dance
Ingrid Lewis at the Birthlight 'Light on Parenting' Conference May 2012 youtube.com/watch?v=s1rgCFP5d-o
Dr. Amali Lokugamage The presentations by the outstanding obstetrician & gynaecologist Dr. Amali Lokugamage are a MUST SEE. Dr. Lokugamage’s insights are thought provoking and inspiring. Her contributions to safer motherhood are immense. Her book ‘Heart in the Womb’ is available from Amazon. Please watch following the links below:
The Heart in the Womb book presentation
The Costs of Institutional Births - Wake Up Call For Obstetricians
Obstetric Violence & Human Rights
Amali interviewed by Suzanne Arms
Anna Verwaal's From Womb to World
Thought provoking deep insights into 'early imprints'. The effects of how we were conceived, our time in the womb, our birth and the earliest few hours after childbirth have on shaping our health and life.
tedxtalks.ted.com/video/From-Womb-to-World-Anna-Verwaal
Women’s & Children’s Rights
GET INVOLVED – help break the chain of violence in the world. Visit, join, support, donate, sponsor, write, share, rise and dance.
Help End Sexual Violence Worldwide
In the words of Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Angelina Jolie): “Stop seeing rape as an inevitable byproduct of war and blame the rapists, not the victims. It is a myth that rape is an inevitable part of conflict. There is nothing inevitable about it. It is a weapon of war aimed at civilians. It is nothing to do with sex, everything to do with power. It is done to torture and humiliate people, and often to very young children. We must send a message around the world that there is no disgrace in being a survivor of sexual violence, that the shame is on the aggressor.”
gov.uk/government/topical-events/sexual-violence-in-conflict
bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27844094
Women's Rights Worldwide - have a look and if you can help crowdsourcing data.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactive/2014/feb/04/womens-rights-country-by-country-interactive
Women for Women International
Excellent organization helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives. Sponsor a sister if you can. Thank you.
womenforwomen.org.uk
Eve Ensler- One Billion Campaign
A global campaign to end violence against women, rise for justice and promote gender equality. Help this worthwhile cause if you can. Thank you.
onebillionrising.org/about/campaign
One Billion Rising film
A short film by Eve Ensler & Tony Stroebel to end violence
against women. Caution: may be upsetting viewing!
youtube.com/watch?v=gl2AO-7Vlzk
Learn The ‘Break the Chain’ theme song
youtube.com/watch?v=fL5N8rSy4CU
Current Events
A Eulogy to the NHS
What happened to the world my generation built?
A
powerful and important article about our right to free access to health care! I thank my dear colleague
Dr. Sunil Kaul (theant.org) for drawing our attention to it.
http://gu.com/p/3pz8e
The Guardian
Family under the microscope: Yoga is great for children and adults and it could save the NHS a fortune
theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/22/yoga-children-oliver-james?INTCMP=SRCH
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find out why yoga during pregnancy is not only good for you but can save the NHS money.
Public Health
Project Bwanga
Mobile health care & training for remote living communities run by Bayaka (Pygmy) hunter-gatherers.
bwanga.org
Publications & Films
Massana: Moments in Yaka Play and Ritual - by Ingrid, Jerome & Nico Lewis
Massana is a film about Yaka Pygmy forest hunter-gatherer's ritual and play. It was filmed in 1996 with the Mbendjele clans of Ibamaba, Republic of Congo. Massana is a Yaka word used to describe children's games, role-play and adult ritual. The activity of massana is based on the idea that by intention you can make things happen. So, for example, girls pretending to dig for yams will become expert yam gatherers and boys imitating animals and hunters will become expert hunters. Adult ritual stretches exactly this power of intention to its outer limits. The film explores in 6 sequences how massana is taught, practised and finally performed. The film shows aspects of everyday life and subsistence; children's games and role-play; gendered forms of ritual participation; the women's ritual of Ngoku and the men's most powerful forest spirit Ejengi - whose successful appearance in the camp demands perfect synergy between male and female ritual performance. Successful massana requires unified participation. During massana opposition and interdependence unify men and women in creative tension. The result is an increasing aesthetic and spiritual synergy.
I hope this film can contribute to begin to understand some of the elements central to egalitarian relationships. It is vital to re-establish such relationships if we are to change the way we live in today's world. Now for sale
Thoughts
"Today I read a story about an anthropologist who proposed a game to children in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told them that who ever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run they all took each other’s hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said: UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?" MM