Steps To Safe - Respectful Maternity Care
Steps To Safe - Respectful Maternity Care
Steps To Safe - Respectful Maternity Care
The International
Childbirth Initiative (ICI)
The 12 Steps (summary version) to Safe and
Respectful MotherBaby-Family Maternity Care
Step 1 Treat every woman and newborn with compassion, respect and dignity, without physical, verbal
or emotional abuse, providing culturally safe and culturally sensitive care that respects the individual’s
customs, values, and rights to self–expression, informed choice and privacy.
Step 2 Respect every woman’s right to access and receive non-discriminatory and free or at least
affordable care throughout the continuum of childbearing, with the understanding that under no
circumstances can a woman or baby be refused care or detained after birth for lack of payment.
Step 3 Routinely provide the MotherBaby-Family maternity care model integrating the midwifery
scope of practice and philosophy that can be practiced by all maternity care professionals in all settings
and at all levels of care provision.
Step 4 Acknowledge the mother’s right to continuous support during labour and birth and inform her
of its benefits, and ensure that she receives such support from providers and companions of her choice.
Step 5 Offer non-pharmacological comfort and pain relief measures during labour as safe first
.options If pharmacological pain relief options are available and requested, explain their benefits and risks.
Step 6 Provide evidence-based practices beneficial for the MotherBaby-Family throughout the entire
childbearing continuum.
Step 7 outweighing
Avoid potentially harmful procedures and practices that have insufficient evidence of benefit
risk for routine or frequent use in normal pregnancy, labour, birth, and the post-partum
and neonatal period.
Step 8 Implement measures that enhance wellness and prevent illness for the MotherBaby-Family,
including good nutrition, clean water, sanitation, hygiene, family planning, disease and complications
prevention and pre-and-post natal education.
Step 9 Provide appropriate obstetric, neonatal, and emergency treatment when needed. Ensure that
staff are trained in recognizing (potentially) dangerous conditions and complications and in providing effective
treatment or stabilization, and have established links for consultation and a safe and effective referral system.
Step 10 Have a supportive human resource policy in place for recruitment and retention of dedicated
staff, and ensure that staff are safe, secure, respected and enabled to provide good quality, collaborative,
personalized care to women and newborns in a positive working environment.
Step 11 Provide a continuum of collaborative care with all relevant health care providers, institutions, and
organizations with established plans and logistics for communication, consultation and referral between all
levels of care.
Step 12 Achieve the 10 Steps of the revised Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (2018)
-Protecting,
promoting and supporting breastfeeding in facilities providing maternity services.