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The Japan Birthing Association

This visit to Japan culminated in the birth of the Japan Birthing Association. The brainchild of Nanako Ooba, a well-known childbirth educator in Japan, the Association will bring together all those who are interested in promoting natural childbirth in Japan. The launch event was an all-day seminar and planning meeting, with speakers in the morning and discussion during the afternoon. Over 130 people came to find out more and get involved, and it is clear that there is wide interest amongst a diverse group - midwives, mothers, fathers and others all came together in a common cause.

The morning session opened with a presentation from me on “World Childbirth and the future of childbirth in Japan”, which was a Powerpoint presentation, ably translated by my two interpreters, Yoko and Tomoko. I gave the current statistics for caesarean section in various countries as a starting point then described how we had to help women overcome their fear of childbirth and the ubiquitous spread of epidurals. I spoke about the ways that midwives were taking the lead in reducing both fear and pharmacological pain relief through better midwifery services and gave them a quick summary of what a natural birth involves.

Then came Dr Tomoko Saotome (see my previous Diary entry) who spoke passionately about women’s sexuality and how this is challenged and disturbed by interventionist birth. In a country where episiotomy is universal, except for a very few women who seek independent midwifery care, this was a wake up call to the midwives in the audience who routinely carry out this procedure without much thought.

Hatsue Miyake then spoke about her practice as a midwife. She works a weekly shift in a Midwife House and also does home births. An active member of the Japan Midwives Association, she finished with the invitation for all midwives to join their professional organisation, to strengthen its membership and help get its voice heard.

The afternoon included small group discussions where the theme was exploring ways of drawing attention to, and stopping, the closure of small maternity units as the centralisation of midwifery services continues in Japan. It seems that obstetricians are aging and leaving the workforce and the Government’s response has been to concentrate services in larger district units, which are quite different to the traditional network of smaller community based birth facilities. It was clear to me that everyone was passionate about birth and wanted something to be done about this situation but had few ideas of how to begin. I gave them a quick list of strategies for political action (mentioning some of the events and ideas that had been used successfully in Australia) and although they were glad to have some direction, I am not sure of they have the drive and persistence to carry out these ideas as yet.

In time I am sure that this will develop - after all, this was the first of what I hope will be many such meetings. It was good to be at the birth of another consumer/midwife alliance and exciting to think that the groundswell of change towards better births for women is starting to get organised in Japan. I am looking forward to learning of some progress when I next visit in 2006.

For those who would like to contact this new group, here are the details:

Japan Birthing Association

Address: 1-0-16-504 Tomigaya, Shibuya-ku,

Tokyo 151-0063

Tel: +81-3-5454-8210

Fax: +81-3-5454-8212

www.tanjo.org

Posted by andrea at December 23, 2005 09:14 AM