REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE

Birth Time: the documentary What would it take for women/people to emerge from their births physically well and emotionally safe? Three women embark on a mission to find out why an increasing number of women/people are emerging from their births physically and emotionally traumatised. Their discoveries expose the truth and lead them to join the birth revolution and create this Birth Time education platform that hopes to change the face of maternity care across the world. Birth Time’s MISSION It was clear from the research we conducted that our maternity system is broken. We have a postnatal depression epidemic, with suicide being the leading cause of maternal death in the developed world. Birth trauma is rampant. We have incredibly high intervention rates in birth, yet research shows that this is not leading to better outcomes for mothers and babies. Globally, we are losing connection and trust in one of the most transformative, powerful, primal and pivotal rites of passage we will ever undertake in our lives. We live in a time where it has become normal to disregard the importance of a woman’s/persons experience of birth. It is not widely known that our birth and birthing experiences deeply impact the way we navigate the world. Improving women’s/peoples experience of birth helps them set up a stronger bond with their babies, decreases their risk of postnatal depression and encourages them to trust their maternal instincts when it comes to mothering their children. Care, connection, respect and trust begin with the mother baby bond. We made the documentary as an initial catalyst to educate, motivate action and instigate change. Birth Time is also an education platform about changing the current politics, practice and funding of maternity care across the world. It’s an education resource and hub that aims to bring people together so we can: • shine a light on our current maternity system, • educate women and pregnant people about different maternity services that are available to them, • help people understand they have a choice, • and to share information about new and evolving midwifery models of care. Through this Birth Time platform, we hope to educate, inspire and motivate young women, pregnant women and people, mothers, partners, grandparents, family, birth workers, midwives, doctors, policy makers, politicians, organisations and corporations to be the voice for change. When we improve women’s/peoples experiences around birth, we change the world. Individually it can be difficult for our voices to be heard, but together we can be deafening! Website: https://www.birthtime.world/

Our Guiding Principles ADVOCATE Every family has the right to high-quality, patient-centered, rights-based, and evidence-informed healthcare. We advocate and work towards the elimination of obstetric violence EDUCATE We equip expecting parents with evidence and tools to know their options, understand their rights, and actively participate and advocate for informed-decisions during birth EMPOWER Births are powerful and transformative. We support families to create positive and empowered birth experiences, stories, and memories Meet Our Founder Merette Khalil, MPH Merette is a lamaze-trained childbirth educator and DONA and BAI-trained birth doula. She is the founder of YourEgyptianDoula, and is deeply passionate about all things related to sexual and reproductive health, birth, and empowering women! Combining her passion for childbirth and Egyptology, Merette dreamed up YourEgyptianDoula to remind each birthing person of the power of their ancestors as the first midwives, doctors, herbalists, and healers! Merette started her journey as a birth worker, and has attended births across different hospitals and birth centers around the world, in Egypt, Tanzania, Cameroon and in the USA. Merette is a multi-lingual health systems researcher, gender and sexual reproductive health and rights advocate, feminist, doula, and birth educator, passionate about ensuring the right to health for all. Merette is specialist on obstetric violence with her Master of Science in Public Health from the KIT Royal Tropical Institute. She has published her research on obstetric violence in Egypt and the Region, in book chapters and peer-reviewed publications, most recently in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Merette works as a consultant for the UN working on COVID-19 response, gender equity, and health systems strengthening working on achieving universal health coverage to ensure every person, mother and family secures their right to high-quality health care. Merette has been recognized for her work in global health and SRHR advocacy, gender-equity, youth-empowerment, social impact, and leadership by both her alma maters Website: https://youregyptiandoula.com/

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