With over 200 volunteer midwives, Magen David Adom (MDA) and the Israel Midwives Organization have joined forces to ensure safe deliveries in emergency and isolated out-of-hospital births. Following a Northen Israel pilot program, the program will operate alongside paramedics and ambulance units.
Since its initial launch in July 2024, at the height of the war, the program has expanded from an initial cohort of 48 midwives from Northern Israel to over 200 professional midwives from around the country. Among the enrolled midwives are Jews, Arabs, and Druze, reflecting Israel’s and MDA’s diverse character.
The initiative equips midwives with full birth kits supplied by Magen David Adom and the Midwives Organization, which include portable ultrasound dopplers, oxygen tanks, and full resuscitation gear for both the mother and newborn along with advanced medical equipment needed during labor and delivery.
Uncertain access to medical facilities and unpredictable conditions for ambulances to reach pregnant women in remote areas during wartime highlights the need for locally-based midwives to assist birthing women outside of medical centers. However, such care is also essential during routine times. In 2024, MDA teams helped 1,156 women give birth in their homes or en route to the hospital.
As part of its expansion, “First Contractions” is recruiting experienced midwives from hospitals across Israel to join the program as on-call volunteers outside of their professional duties. Under this framework, the midwives receive field training to operate MDA equipment and use the MDA dispatch system to field emergency calls for women in labor. The program is focused on initial expansion to Jerusalem and Central Israel, the districts with the highest birth rates in the country.
While the Ministry of Health mandates the presence of a registered midwife or OB-GYN at pre-planned home births, unforeseen out-of-hospital births present increased risks. In case of birth complications, the women have to be evacuated to a hospital as soon as possible for further treatment.
“Local midwives, who can provide care for out-of-hospital births in their communities, are often the most capable and quickest to respond to these situations,” said Project Manager Yossi Halabi, head of MDA’s First Response Division. “This initiative originated from the urgent wartime need to aid pregnant women in remote or dangerous areas where access to medical facilities is limited. However, it will continue to play a crucial role within the broader MDA and Israeli healthcare systems, which significantly contribute to Israel’s standing as one of the OECD countries with the lowest maternal mortality rates.”
The project is a collaboration between MDA, the Israel Midwives Organization, and regional and local councils. It receives support from the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA).
MDA is Israel’s emergency services system. A leader in mass-casualty response and in EMS technology, Magen David Adom treats and transports more than 1 million people to hospitals every year, collects, safety tests, and distributes nearly all the blood to Israel’s hospitals, and through its affiliation with the Red Cross movement, responds to disasters around the world. For more information, visit afmda.org.