Representing New Zealand’s Midwives
We provide and promote quality standards for New Zealand Midwives. Our role is a midwifery voice for midwives and women.
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Nau mai haere mai
Welcome
Welcome to the official site of Te Kāreti o ngā Kaiwhakawhānau ki Aotearoa | New Zealand College of Midwives, the professional organisation for midwives.
The College is governed by a National Board comprising a number of nominated and elected representatives from throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. Representatives include rural midwives, urban midwives, educators, students, consumers, Māori midwives and birthing women.
Ngā karere me ngā kaupapa o te wā
Latest News & Events
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MERAS Media release 22/10/24
22nd October, 2024
Failure By Health NZ To Approve Staffing Budgets For Second Year Impacting On Maternity Safe Staffing There is growing concern from MERAS – the midwives union – over the failure of Health NZ to approve…
Read Article -
Transitioning to Midwifery Models of Care
21st October, 2024
The new World Health Organization’s “Transitioning to Midwifery Models of Care” Global Position Paper is a major step for maternal and newborn health globally! This paper shows how scaling midwifery models of care can save…
Read Article
Conference 2025
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As a member of the College you have the opportunity to contribute to all the representations the College makes to government, health organisations, consumer groups and the public.
The College encourages and values individual member input very highly. You can also take an active role in supporting your local and regional midwifery community including joining with consumers and their organisations to support initiatives that enhance the lives of mothers and babies.
The Find your Midwife website, created by the New Zealand College of Midwives to help women to find a midwife they can work with best.
The MMPO was established by the New Zealand College of Midwives in 1997 to provide its LMC (Lead Maternity Carer) midwives with a supportive practice management and quality practice system, enabling high quality continuity of care for women throughout New Zealand.
MERAS, a dedicated union for midwives, now represents over 90% of midwives employed in hospitals and maternity units. MERAS has a DHB/MERAS MECA and CEAs with several non-DHB maternity units. MERAS is affiliated to the College of Midwives and provides a strong voice for employed midwives.
Hauora Taiwhenua Rural health Network have produced this great video about rural midwifery starring the fabulous Kendra Short.
youtu.be/ROD0cD93ooI
You can find out more about rural midwifery on their website htrhn.org.nz/our-chapters/rural-midwifery-maternity/
3 weeks ago
Katie Kearney
Nice one Kendra: forever holding us high and tall
Kendra was also a wonderful witness for midwifery in the recent pay equity court case. Big thanks Kendra for standing so proud for our profession.xx
Fantastic Well said
Aww cute Kendra!! Lucky women who have you as their midwife!
This is fabulous!!
Kendra Short superwoman 🥰
Kendra Short you famous gurrrl
Love your passion and rural midwifery work, Kendra.
Awesome! Well done Kendra!
Love this!!!!
Gorgeous account of rural midwifery Kendra
Fantastic account of rural midwifery from one amazing, passionate and driven woman. Well done Kendra!
Awesome video Kendra Short!
Well done Kendra, what a strong influential woman you are for Midwifery 😊👍
Awesome work Kendra! Your amazing!!
Beautiful video - so great to see such a positive story of midwifery at its best. Thank you Kendra.
Kendra, you are a star. Have watched this video a few times and always impressed by you. A wonderful account of rural midwifery. Thank you and thanks for all your amazing support of students over the years ❤️❤️
What a great advertisement for the best job in the world.
Epic Kendra! ❤️
Fantastic video Kendra!
That so so awesome Kendra! I wish more people understood what we do every day. I was a remote rural Midwife in Marlborough. Being a rural woman, I loved that part. The connections and the growth of the whanau. Burn out comes pretty quickly after an intensive degree and then hit the ground running! And I ran a safe caseload 4-5 women a month. There’s just not enough of us these days. Awesome your daughter is going to be a midwife soon. Now in WA doing MGP on my OE. Loving the work/life balance. Loving the experience and actually being with women and their families and also being with mine too. Family first before you build families, I think that is lost in our profession in NZ. Rural midwifery is so special and it’s a unique model. Thanks for highlighting how great rural midwifery can be NZ. Don’t ever loose that passion!
As everyone else has said Kendra, you're an amazing woman and midwife. I found your statistics astounding and hilarious! How do you keep track? A spreadsheet maybe?
Fantastic Kendra! ♥️
🚨 Hugely important release! 🚨
The new World Health Organization's "Transitioning to Midwifery Models of Care" Global Position Paper is a major step for maternal and newborn health globally!
Developed with input from the Strategic Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE) Working Group on Midwifery Models of Care, which we’re proud to be part of, this paper shows how scaling midwifery models of care can save millions of lives and improve health systems worldwide.
Despite progress, maternal and neonatal deaths remain far too high. This paper highlights continuity of midwife care as a cost-effective, high-quality solution that reduces unnecessary interventions and helps achieve hashtag#UHC
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Now is the time for health systems to act and strengthen midwifery!
Read the full paper here: lnkd.in/dsAX7JpN
3 weeks ago
The World Health Organization is holding a webinar 'Transitioning to midwifery models of care', recognizing the role of midwifery to reduce maternal and newborn mortality, morbidity and increase their well-being. The World Health Organization is releasing a global position paper on midwifery models of care. This document, developed by WHO in collaboration with 100+ individuals and partners, outlines the definition and guiding principles of these models and provides the rationale for transitioning to midwifery models of care.
This webinar will make the case for adopting midwifery models of care.
The panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A session.
3 weeks ago
The evidence based, continuity of midwifery care model that WHO wants for all women, NZ has had for decades but successive NZ governments poor acknowledgment and resourcing have done everything to try and wreck it. Currently the Ministry of Health and Te Whatu Ora are apparently dead keen to 'transform' our maternity/midwifery services...into what it is hard to say given we have the model WHO recommends so strongly. Maybe it's because everyone seems to have lost/never knew the history of why and how we achieved this model in the first place? ....ie based on women and whanau centred care rather than institutional needs. Quality midwifery care matters so we must be careful what we wish for....from my 'looking in' perspective things seem to be sliding rapidly back to the employment model and the unnecessary medicalisation era of the 1970's. Respect, support and future workforce planning for midwifery, comprehensive evidence based education, equity funding and resources is the 'transformation' that is needed...we already have the model.
A great resource for pelvic health.Did you know that pelvic health is important for everyone, regardless of age, race, gender, or fitness level? Sometimes pelvic health is associated mostly with older people or people who have had children, but it is certainly not limited to these groups!
Our free Pelvic Health Video Guide contains advice on pelvic floor muscle basics including simple explanations, practical tips and demonstrations, and where else to find help:
www.continence.org.nz/pages/Pelvic-Health-Video-Guide/343/
3 weeks ago
