International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization

The International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization (IMBCO) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving maternal and newborn health by promoting respectful, evidence-based maternity care worldwide. It grew out of the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS), which in 1996 ratified the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI) in the United States. As requests for similar initiatives came from other countries, CIMS helped create the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI), and IMBCO was founded to steward that global effort. The organization works at the intersection of community knowledge, clinical practice, and policy, helping communities, birth centers, and health systems turn lived experience into better care, stronger accountability, and lasting policy change. IMBCO's flagship program is the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI), which sets out 10 Steps to Optimal MotherBaby Maternity Care and a framework of MotherBaby Rights. These principles emphasize respectful and dignified care, informed consent and refusal, continuous support during labor and birth, drug-free comfort measures, and care that optimizes the normal physiology of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum under the midwifery (or motherbaby) model. The initiative also addresses legal and policy barriers that limit access to midwifery, birth center care, and dignity in hospital settings. IMBCO is governed by a Board of Directors and collaborates with partners including the International Childbirth Initiative (ICI). Its leadership has included Debra Pascali-Bonaro as Chair, alongside board members such as Professor Soo Downe and Dr. Vijaya Krishnan. The organization engages in webinars, maintains a blog, and provides resources for communities and health systems seeking to improve maternity care. It operates globally, with a focus on building community-based knowledge systems and strengthening respectful and equitable maternity care.

The International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization (IMBCO) traces its origins to the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS), which in 1996 ratified the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI): 10 Steps to Mother-Friendly Hospitals, Birth Centers, and Home Birth Services for the United States. In subsequent years, CIMS received many requests from individual groups in various countries to help them create their own initiatives, and then began receiving an increasing number of requests to create a global initiative, especially from representatives of various birth-related organizations who began attending CIMS conferences in the United States. This led to the creation of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI) and the founding of IMBCO to steward the global effort. The history of CIMS as part of a global effort to promote normal birth, the principles underlying the MFCI, and the evidence basis for the Ten Steps are described in the Journal of Perinatal Education. The creation of the IMBCI and the founding of IMBCO are also documented, telling the story of an international initiative designed to improve childbirth care and breastfeeding outcomes for all women, grounded in a strong evidence basis and a clear human rights framework. Today, IMBCO continues to work at the intersection of community knowledge, clinical practice, and policy, helping communities, birth centers, and health systems turn lived experience into better care, stronger accountability, and lasting policy change.

• 1996

  Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) ratified the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI) in the United States.

• Creation of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI) and founding of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization (IMBCO).

A global nonprofit advancing respectful, evidence-based maternity care through community-driven knowledge and policy change.

• International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI)

  A global initiative setting out 10 Steps to Optimal MotherBaby Maternity Care and MotherBaby Rights.

• 10 Steps to Optimal MotherBaby Maternity Care

  A framework of evidence-based practices for respectful maternity care.

1. 1International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization - Homeimbco.org
2. 2History - International MotherBaby Childbirth Organizationimbco.org
3. 3About - International MotherBaby Childbirth Organizationimbco.org
4. 410 Steps to Optimal MotherBaby Maternity Care - International MotherBaby Childbirth Organizationimbco.org
5. 5International MotherBaby Childbirth Organizationwikidata.org