International Midwife Day Event
Mark your calendars now!
In honor of International Midwifery Day BYLLYE AVERY & MARY KOROM will be speaking on Friday May 4th at Eastside Rec Center 2841 E. University Ave at 7:30pm. This is a FREE event
On the eve before International Midwifery Day, Byllye Avery (of the Black Women’s Health Imperative) and Mary Koroma (of the “Africa’s Future in African Hands” Tour) will be speaking at the Eastside Rec Center. |
The focus of the evening will be to draw attention to the causes of poor 
maternal and infant health outcomes worldwide and here in the U.S., and how midwives can be a part of improving these outcomes.
Mary Koroma is a nurse midwife from Sierra Leone, a country with the world’s currently highest maternal mortality rate. She is coming to Gainesville with the “Africa’s Future in African Hands” Tour, which will showcase how her community’s Birth Clinic is successfully combating maternal and infant deaths with community led development and midwifery care. Donations will be accepted to raise money for the Birth Clinic. This tour is sponsored by the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project.
Byllye Avery is a health care activist who co-founded the Gainesville Women’s Health Center and Birth Center in the 1970s. She has since co-founded the Black Women’s Health Imperative based in Washington D.C., which is dedicated to promoting optimum health for Black women across the life span. She will be addressing the health disparities that exist right here in the U.S.- with African American babies being twice as likely to die in the first year of life as white babies, and African American women being almost four times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as white women. Byllye Avery will speak about the history of midwifery here in Gainesville, and what can be done today to change these health disparities locally.
Fundraising is ongoing at this time to help cover the cost of the speakers’ expenses and stipends! If individuals or organizations are interested in co-sponsoring this event, please visit our fundraising page.
Please visit our event “Gainesville’s International Midwifery Day” facebook page, and help spread the word for this event/
This event is being organized by Gainesville Doulas and the Transforming Birth Collective.
Co-sponsors of International Midwifery Day event include: the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding, the Florida School of Traditional Midwifery, Gainesville NOW, Gainesville’s La Leche League, the Birth and Wellness Center of Gainesville, UF’s LGBT Affairs, UF’s Center of Women’s Studies and Gender Research, Jordan Glen School, and many local midwives.
For more information, please contact local midwife Abigail Fletcher at abigayl.fletcher@gmail.com or contact us and we’ll forward a phone number where you can reach her.
Pingback: International Midwife Day Event « indiegainesville | Milk & Magnolias