”Luckily we had a torch” is a comment made by a new mother and  embraced by researchers from Charles Sturt University (CSU) to demonstrate the extraordinary circumstances in which some women living in rural and remote areas of Australia are forced to give birth.

 

A new report has found that the closure of smaller birthing facilities in rural communities has placed women at significant risk and that their human rights are being violated in the process of giving birth.

 

The study, ‘Luckily we had a torch’: Contemporary Birthing Experiences of Women Living in Rural and Remote NSW, has made seven key recommendations including providing maternity care as close to home as possible; improving health outcomes for Aboriginal women and babies through culturally safe maternity services; providing publicly funded, stand-alone primary birthing units; and supporting midwifery-led care for healthy women in their local areas.

 

More than 40 women living in rural and remote New South Wales  in 2007 and 2008 were interviewed about their birthing experiences by researchers from the CSU School of Nursing and Midwifery. The research was funded by the Nurses and Midwives Board of NSW.

 

 “One woman’s description of her birth by torch light on the side of the road en route to hospital clearly reflects the strength and resilience of women living in rural and remote Australia,” said principal researcher, Dr Elaine Dietsch.

 

“Understandably women have a strong desire to labour and birth locally. They believe they have a right to basic midwifery services close to where they live. This is made difficult or impossible in some situations, as about 130 rural maternity units have closed across Australia since 1995,” said Dr Dietsch.

 

The research concludes that it is time to stop maternity unit closures in rural NSW and to develop strategies and models of care that will enable the reopening of many that have been closed.

 

“There is an urgent need to develop a model of birthing care for women in rural and remote areas that provides women with a supportive environment, free of fear,” said Dr Dietsch.

 

“The essential elements of the model we propose are that it is woman-centred, community based and based on continuance of midwifery care throughout a woman’s pregnancy.”