“Lost births,” service delivery, and human resources to health: Bringing maternal primary health care back to Canada’s North
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to advocate for improved service delivery of maternal-newborn care in northern Indigenous communities. This is done through critical examination of the loss of pregnancy and birthing knowledge and practice in these communities, from both a historical and contemporary lens. Supporting the return of traditional midwifery practices to the communities is the recommended solution.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a general review of the available literature regarding Indigenous birthing practices, historical and contemporary Canadian maternal health service provision, and midwifery.
Findings
Current maternal health care practice in these northern communities is not resolving service delivery and human resource inadequacies, highlighting the need for a community-based and midwifery-driven primary health care approach. Potential recommendations include implementing a comprehensive birthing initiative, innovative midwifery training, and promotion and support of the role of the community midwife.
Originality/value
“Lost births” is a largely unrecognized issue in Canadian public health literature. The value of this paper lies in its potential to stimulate discourse and advocacy.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Corrigendum: It has come to our attention that the paper “‘Lost births,’ service delivery, and human resources to health” by Melissa Cora Cardinal published in International Journal of Health Governance, Vol. 23 No 1, 2018 has an error regarding reporting who is offering Midwifery Education. The University College of the North disbanded their midwifery education program in 2015. This error has been corrected in the online version. The author apologises sincerely for this error.
Citation
Cardinal, M.C. (2018), "“Lost births,” service delivery, and human resources to health: Bringing maternal primary health care back to Canada’s North", International Journal of Health Governance, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 70-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHG-12-2016-0057
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited