From Conversation to Collaboration: Launching the International Confederation of Midwifery Centres

The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Congress has long been a place where midwives from around the world exchange ideas, build relationships, and shape the future of the profession. For those committed to advancing midwifery centers, it has also become the place where an international conversation has steadily grown into a global collaboration.

That conversation began in Toronto in 2017, when a small group gathered to discuss the role of midwifery centers internationally. The goal was simple: to understand who was doing this work, where countries were in their development, what challenges they faced, and whether there was enough shared interest to continue meeting.

There was.

The group met again in Mexico in 2018 and at the ICM Congress in Bali in 2023. Each meeting attracted more participants and reinforced that countries around the world were asking many of the same questions.

In Bali, the AABC International Committee conducted the Global Birth Center Readiness Survey to better understand that interest. Forty-one respondents representing more than 30 countries and six continents participated. The survey confirmed that interest in developing midwifery centers extended across low-, middle-, and high-resource settings. More importantly, it revealed that many countries had moved beyond asking whether midwifery centers were valuable. They were looking for practical guidance on how to develop them, strengthen them, and integrate them into their health systems.

That realization laid the groundwork for what would happen next.

Launching the International Confederation of Midwifery Centres (ICMC)

By the time the ICM Congress convened in Lisbon in June 2026, nearly a decade of conversations had led to a clear conclusion: the international midwifery center community was ready for a more formal way to connect, collaborate, and move the work forward.

Approximately 100 people attended the ICMC Gathering, making it the largest international gathering focused specifically on midwifery centers to date. Participants included birth center leaders, midwives, educators, researchers, policymakers, representatives of national associations, and others committed to strengthening midwifery-led birth centers around the world.

The purpose of the Lisbon gathering was not to determine whether there was interest in creating an international organization. That interest had already been demonstrated through years of growing participation and collaboration. Instead, the gathering focused on launching the International Confederation of Midwifery Centres (ICMC) and inviting the international community to help shape its future.

The vision for the ICMC is to provide a global home and a unified voice for everyone working to advance midwifery centers. It is intended to complement, not replace, the work of organizations such as AABC, Goodbirth Network, MuNet, and national birth center associations by creating a shared international forum for exchanging knowledge, experience, research, advocacy, and practical resources.

The ICMC welcomes participation from across the full spectrum of midwifery center development. Whether a country has an established network of birth centers, is planning its first center, is conducting research, has individual centers, is developing policy, is educating future midwives, or is advocating for system change, every perspective strengthens the international community.

Participants also began identifying priorities for the organization's future. These included international advocacy, sharing standards and accreditation resources, supporting countries developing new centers, expanding education through webinars and mentorship, strengthening research collaborations, and creating opportunities for countries to learn directly from one another's experiences.

The momentum continued well beyond the meeting itself. Participants joined a newly established WhatsApp community, introduced colleagues from additional countries. The enthusiasm following Lisbon demonstrated that what was launched was far more than a conference initiative; it was the beginning of an international community committed to advancing midwifery centers together.

Why Now?

The launch of the ICMC comes at a pivotal moment for maternity care globally.

In 2025, both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) released landmark publications recognizing the important role of midwife-led birth centers within high-quality maternity care systems. Together, these documents acknowledge birth centers as evidence-based components of integrated health systems and provide international guidance for their implementation and expansion.

These policy statements reinforce what decades of research have consistently demonstrated: for appropriately selected pregnancies, midwifery centers provide safe, high-quality care while reducing unnecessary interventions, improving patient satisfaction, and lowering health care costs. As more countries seek to strengthen maternity care through midwifery-led models, the need for international collaboration has never been greater.

The launch of the ICMC reflects the convergence of evidence, international policy, and a growing global community committed to expanding access to midwifery-led birth centers.

Building on a Strong Foundation

While the ICMC is a new organization, it is being built on decades of experience.

Since its founding in 1983, the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) has played a leading role in advancing the birth center model in the United States. For more than 40 years, AABC has developed and maintained the Standards for Birth Centers, supported research demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of the birth center model, advocated for policies that expand access to midwifery-led care, educated birth center leaders, and helped centers develop and thrive.

Those standards became the foundation for accreditation through the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers (CABC) and continue to serve as the national benchmark for quality birth center care in the United States.

As countries around the world seek to establish or strengthen midwifery centers, AABC's experience provides an important resource. While every country's model will reflect its own culture, health system, and regulatory environment, many of the challenges are shared. Developing standards, measuring outcomes, creating sustainable systems, supporting quality improvement, educating leaders, and advocating for policy change are areas where decades of experience can inform international efforts.

The ICMC creates an opportunity to bring together AABC's decades of experience, the strengths of other global partner organizations, and the expertise and innovation of leaders advancing midwifery centers worldwide. Rather than promoting a single model, the goal is to create a collaborative network in which countries learn from one another, adapt successful approaches to their local contexts, and collectively advance midwifery-led birth centers worldwide.

Looking Ahead

The launch of the ICMC marks the beginning of a new chapter for the global midwifery center community.

The work ahead includes establishing governance, defining priorities, expanding participation, and creating meaningful opportunities for cross-country and cross-organizational collaboration. As interest in midwifery centers continues to grow and international recognition of their value strengthens, the ICMC aims to serve as the global forum where ideas are shared, partnerships are built, and the collective voice of the international midwifery center community continues to grow.

Join the ICMC e-mail list to stay informed.

Amy Johnson-Grass, ND, LN, LM, CPM, is chair of the AABC International Committee and is owner of the Twin Cities Birth Center + Women’s Health Clinic in Saint Paul, Minnesota