Birth Summit IV

Birth Summit IV, convened 150 leaders from 12 stakeholder perspectives: consumers, community health, service providers, consumer advocates, innovative models of care, health systems, health policy and law, research, payment reform, health professional educators, health administration, and quality and safety.

Together, delegates co-created an implementation strategy to ensure that evidence-based resources, and best practice models, become standard of care across the United States. Overall, our aim is risk reduction and improved access to high-quality care across all communities.

Summit Goals and Action Planning Areas

Implementation of a reproductive justice framework, best practices, and accountability tools throughout the health care system:

• Decolonize pregnancy and childbirth research;
• Workforce development across communities and professions to better reflect and serve the diverse population needs;
• Expand access to physiologic labor and birth;
• Catalyze a cultural shift in institutions towards addressing institutional racism, and expanding trauma informed care;
• Embed a health equity curricula, and cultural humility into interprofessional education and practice;
  Increase access, support, and awareness of indigenous models for high quality, respectful care;
• Upscale and facilitate networking of innovative models for service delivery across communities;
• Apply a human rights law lens to care delivery by elevating informed choice and autonomy, and decriminalize pregnant and childbearing people.