Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42678001›Full record

ArticleThe Medical journal of Australia2026

Forty Years in the Making: Reporting on the Co-Creation of a National Roadmap for Birthing on Country Services for the Best Start to Life.

Res McCalman, Anneka J Bowman, Roianne West, Kristie Watego, Jyai Allen, Claire Clack, Sue Kildea, Sue Kruske, Melanie Briggs, Cleone Wellington and 14 more

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In one paragraph

Article in The Medical journal of Australia, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

24 authors.

Res McCalmanMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Anneka J BowmanMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Roianne WestSchool of Nursing and Midwifery, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Kristie WategoInstitute for Urban Indigenous Health, Windsor, Queensland, Australia.
Jyai AllenSchool of Nursing and Midwifery, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Claire ClackDepartment of Health, Disability and Ageing, Australian Government, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Sue KildeaMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Sue KruskeMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Melanie BriggsWaminda South Coast Women's Health and Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation, Nowra, New South Wales, Australia.
Cleone WellingtonWaminda South Coast Women's Health and Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation, Nowra, New South Wales, Australia.
Rebecca CoddingtonWaminda South Coast Women's Health and Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation, Nowra, New South Wales, Australia.
Yu GaoMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Isabella GartiMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Sascha KowalenkoMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Sarah IrelandMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Catherine AustinMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
John D BoffaPublic Health Division, Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
Marah PriorHealth Programs Division, Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
Kelsie KahlMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Bettina ChaselingMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Sarah KhawMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Emily ArmstrongMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Donna HartzSchool of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia.
Yvette RoeMolly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Funding

National Health and Medical Research Council 2020/GNT1197110
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

For over 40 years, First Nations communities in Australia have called for community-controlled birthing and maternal-infant health programs that restore First Nations-led, community-controlled birthing systems grounded in cultural authority and sovereignty. 'Birthing on Country' services have demonstrated improved First Nations maternal-infant health outcomes, more babies kept out of the child protection system, and reduced health system costs. Restoration and expansion of Birthing on Country services across regions has been inconsistent, and has lacked support for national implementation. In 2022, a large national gathering ('Best Start to Life') was co-hosted in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). The focus was Birthing on Country service implementation to address inequities in birthing service provision for First Nations communities. A deliverable of this gathering was the National Roadmap for Birthing on Country Services 2026-2036 (the Roadmap). The co-creation of the Roadmap maintained enhanced engagement from a range of stakeholders, to produce inclusive and democratic solutions to perpetual perinatal inequities in health. A two-phased process facilitated national co-creation where national priorities in the reclamation of First Nations Birth Rights were upheld. The Roadmap builds on an evidence-informed and First Nations knowledge-grounded framework, the RISE Implementation Framework. The formation of the Roadmap contrasts against traditional policy creation, transitioning from an evidence-based proposal to a First Nations-endorsed national framework, ready for implementation and government adoption. This novel, national strategic approach to upscale Birthing on Country services has received formal endorsement nationally. The Roadmap provides detailed strategies to address structural reform, and its foundational co-creation process demonstrates that to change practice, researchers must do more than publish evidence in journals for policy change and knowledge translation. The 10-year key deliverables in the Roadmap are a call to action to recognise Birthing on Country as an inherent sovereign right grounded in First Nations Law and governance.

Indexed as

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PeoplesHealth Services, IndigenousMaternal Health ServicesAustraliaFemaleHumansPregnancyIndigenous healthmaternal healthreproductive rights

Identifiers

PMID42678001
PMCPMC13531727

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.