Rural Maternity Care

It is great to hear conversations taking place regarding how safe, quality maternity care can be delivered in a rural setting with women and families at the center.

Through birth notifications information from our MCH’s, we know that women who reside in the Wimmera Southern Mallee are birthing in many locations across the state, and in some cases across the border.

Yarriambiack Shire recorded 63 births over the 2022-23 financial year, with women birthing at 12 different hospitals. West Wimmera Shire recorded 44 births, with women birthing at 10 different hospitals, and nearly a third of these births occurring interstate. These numbers highlight that our local women birth at many different locations, either by choice or necessity, and why it is important to support women to access antenatal and postnatal care as close to home as possible.

To continue discussions around sustainable maternity care, By Five are working with Rural Northwest Health, who are enthusiastic about strengthening their capacity as a small local health service, including the ongoing provision of antenatal and postnatal care. This will give women the option of receiving shared care locally in partnership with their birthing hospital.

Through our participation with Restacking the Odds (RSTO), we continue to learn about the work communities across the country are doing, to understand and document the quality, quantity and participation indicators across early years services. We are excited to explore how we can partner with our local health services and RSTO, in order to strengthen data collection around antenatal care.