Birth & Midwifery in India
RESOURCES FOR PARENTS AND PRACTITIONERS

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Some of the following sites may not be in English; an online translator may be useful.

Midwifery Today Country Contacts

Manju Chhugani and Uma Handa

Manju Chhugani is a lecturer at the College of Nursing Jamia Hamdard. She has been teaching midwifery since 1991 and is the secretary for the Society of Midwives (India), Delhi Chapter. She is pursuing her PhD in nursing management and is proficient in English, Hindi and Sindhi. Manju's goals are to work toward raising the standards of nursing and midwifery education in India and to work persistently for safe motherhood and women's empowerment.

Uma Handa has a BS and an MSc in Nursing with specialization in obstetrics and gynecology. She has worked in the field of nursing since 1974, in nursing educational institutions in both the conventional and distance system, as well as in national and international health agencies. Countries in which she has worked include Sri Lanka, UK, Bangladesh and South Africa (University of Namibia—UNAM). She has received many special awards throughout her career. She speaks English, Hindi (her mother tongue), as well as Punjabi and Marathi.

Uma's present goal is to promote independent midwifery practice in India to encourage mothers to go through natural childbirth and so that unnecessary medical and surgical interventions can be prevented. Organizations she is member of: Nursing Research Society of India (Founder), Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI), White Ribbon Alliance India (WRAI), Society of Midwives, and Executive Committee member Birth India.

To contact Uma Handa, Manju Chhugani or any other Midwifery Today Country Contact, please log in to the International Alliance of Midwives (IAM), or write to the IAM administrator.

Birth/Midwifery

• Birth India—Natural Way of Child Birth
• Birthing Center—Center for pregnancy, natural birth, waterbirth and holistic care
• The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood
• The Trained Nurses' Association of India
• The Indian Nursing Council

Parenting/Breastfeeding

• Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India
• La Leche League
• Centre for Health Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness (CHETNA means "awareness" in several Indian languages)

Education

• Jamia Hamdard, a seat of higher learning in Unani Medicine, Islamic Studies, Biosciences, Pharmacy, Nursing and other areas of knowledge