Closing the Gap delayed as Waminda waits for funding

The Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council has expressed concerns Closing the Gap will be further delayed if funding is not secured for a specialised Indigenous-led birthing unit on the South Coast of NSW.

A proposed Birthing on Country (BiOC) centre on the South Coast of NSW would allow Indigenous women to make personalised, informed choices about their birth process under the care of Indigenous clinical staff.

The AH&MRC stated that despite receiving written support over a three-year period from NSW Minister for Health, and the Chief Executive of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, no funding has been allocated.

“The support that’s been shown for the Waminda Birthing and Community Hub so far is great, but we need this to translate into actual resourcing that creates real outcomes,” says AH&MRC CEO, Mr Robert Skeen. “There’s no good reason why this hasn’t occurred to date.”

A key focus of Closing the Gap is 91% of Indigenous babies be born with a healthy birth weight. Waminda’s current maternity care model shows 50 of 52 babies born under the BiOC program met these markers.

“Aboriginal women have been doing this since time immemorial,” says Dharawal and Gumbaynggirr woman and Waminda midwife Mel Briggs. “We need to be central to those discussions when it comes to maternity models of care because we know what works for our women.”

Despite the success of Waminda’s program, the lack of funding for a birthing unit is placing a strain on the midwives at the centre.

“We’ve been working on this for years and nothing. The more I talk about it, the madder I get,” says Briggs. “I just don’t know if we’re being heard.”

The centre has raised $42,000 via GoFundMe and fundraising by the centre for the estimated $38 million project.