Take Action
SPEAK UP: Make your voice heard.
Sample Letter - (click)
The United States Senate Finance Committee, member and contact information. http://finance.senate.gov/
The United States House of Representatives official site. Find your congressman with a zip code search.
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
The United States Senate official site. .
http://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_contact_senators.htm
This site is to the official Obama team executive branch committees etc. They have a link right there if you want to contact them with ideas and input. http://www.healthreform.gov/
Sample Letter - (click)
The United States Senate Finance Committee, member and contact information. http://finance.senate.gov/
The United States House of Representatives official site. Find your congressman with a zip code search.
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
The United States Senate official site. .
http://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_contact_senators.htm
This site is to the official Obama team executive branch committees etc. They have a link right there if you want to contact them with ideas and input. http://www.healthreform.gov/
A review by Shafia M. Monroe Reducing Infant Mortality Project
This video is an eye opener to the American public
awakening people to the fact that the US has one of the highest infant
mortality rates of the industrialized nations. It educates the public by
showing that babies born in America have a higher probability of dying
before age one than thirty other industrialized nations. A highlight of this
video is the association between natural birth and low medical intervention
as a model for good birth outcomes. The video also provides some of the
traditional causes of infant mortality: lack of prenatal care, poor nutrition,
extreme stress, and too much medical intervention. However, the video could
have given more current information by providing the most recent research on
racism induced stress as a major indicator for the higher level of preterm
births among African American women. And though I appreciated the broad
range of experts, the video fell short by not including perinatal experts and
midwives from the African American community, which is most impacted by
infant mortality. Research is proving that an African American woman with a
graduate degree, married, and a six figure salary still suffers
disproportionately from premature births and infant mortality than her white
American sister who has less than a high school education. This video
begins a conversation.
Shafia M. Monroe is founder and president of International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC) and a community activist devoted to infant mortality prevention, breastfeeding promotion, and increasing the number of midwives of color.
In addition to being a Certified Midwife by the Massachusetts Midwives Alliance, she is also a Childbirth Educator, a Doula Trainer, and mother of seven children. Shafia M. Monroe is a health activist, organizer, and international speaker. She holds a BA in sociology, with a concentration in medical sociology, from the University of Massachusetts. Monroe is the founder and President of the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC); the nation’s first Black midwifery training, breastfeeding promotion and capacity building non-profit organization, headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Shafia is the visionary behind the prominent Black Midwives and Healers Conference that brings midwives and other health care providers together to galvanize resources and implement strategies for reducing infant mortality, improving birth outcomes and strengthening families. In 2006, the Black Midwives and Healers Conference received a Proclamation from Oregon’s Governor Ted Kulongoski. In 2007 she authored the Black Midwives and Prenatal Providers Directory-Essential Recipes and Words of Wisdom for Expecting and New Parents.
Shafia M. Monroe is founder and president of International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC) and a community activist devoted to infant mortality prevention, breastfeeding promotion, and increasing the number of midwives of color.
In addition to being a Certified Midwife by the Massachusetts Midwives Alliance, she is also a Childbirth Educator, a Doula Trainer, and mother of seven children. Shafia M. Monroe is a health activist, organizer, and international speaker. She holds a BA in sociology, with a concentration in medical sociology, from the University of Massachusetts. Monroe is the founder and President of the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC); the nation’s first Black midwifery training, breastfeeding promotion and capacity building non-profit organization, headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Shafia is the visionary behind the prominent Black Midwives and Healers Conference that brings midwives and other health care providers together to galvanize resources and implement strategies for reducing infant mortality, improving birth outcomes and strengthening families. In 2006, the Black Midwives and Healers Conference received a Proclamation from Oregon’s Governor Ted Kulongoski. In 2007 she authored the Black Midwives and Prenatal Providers Directory-Essential Recipes and Words of Wisdom for Expecting and New Parents.
Shafia M. Monroe, CM, CCE
President and CEO
International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC)
PO Box 11923
Portland, Or 97211
(503)460-9324
Fax# (503)445-7760
www.ictcmidwives.org
Healthy Babies Are Everyone's Business, become a member on-line today and help reduce infant mortality.
