Adelle Dora Monteblanco 2023 poster presentation

Midwives as Climate Change Mitigators and Adaptors According to the World Health Organization, the largest threat to humanity is the ongoing climate crisis. In fact, scientists predict that natural hazards (e.g., heat waves, hurricanes, floods) will occur with increasing frequency, duration, and severity due to human-caused climate change. No matter what community is impacted, there will always be people in need of sexual and reproductive health services, including pregnant people, new parents, and infants with time-sensitive and specialized medical needs. Although hospitals provide the backbone for most medical responses during a disaster event, disasters increase the demand for medical care and simultaneously reduce medical systems’ abilities to provide essential primary care, such as prenatal care, newborn feeding support, contraception or abortion care, just to name a few. Yet emergency managers and climate leaders continue to overlook a profession that has been in practice since 40,000 BC. This poster highlights the role that midwives hold as climate change mitigators and adaptors, particularly those working at the community level. Drawing on a diversity of research, the authors examine midwives’ commitment to a small environmental footprint, a model of care that prepares them for disaster response, and their prior preparation and response to a variety of natural hazards and humanitarian crises. Lastly, we envision a future in which midwives actively contribute to climate resilience and welcome examples of climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts from our virtual audience. ⁠www.vidm.org