ICM Congress news.

The organising committee is delighted to report that the midwives invited to Brisbane as keynote speakers have accepted their invitations with pleasure. The four days of the Congress will each bring together participants in a plenary session to hear one of these prestigious speakers, selected to represent the four world regions.

* Monday July 25: Mina Talaguk is an indigenous midwife from the north of Canada, and a relatively new voice at global forums. Following the striking success of the ICM Americas Regional Conference in Trinidad, April 2004, the value of hearing the experiences of such midwives, working in areas remote from cities, has become clearer than ever.

* Tuesday, July 26: Lennie Kamwendo, from Malawi, is a midwife well known to those who have attended previous ICM Congresses. Active in the establishment of the Association of Malawian Midwives, which joined ICM in 1998, she has held important national posts in midwifery education and regulation, was a winner of the Marie Goubran award in 1999, participated in the Meeting of the Minds in 2001, and most recently has taken on the role of a mentor in the ICM...