Researchers of the CRESS interviewed in the Senate as part of a perinatal information mission

Researchers of the CRESS interviewed in the Senate as part of a perinatal information mission

As part of the Senate’s information mission on the future of perinatal health and its territorial organization, Epopé team (CRESS) researchers Pierre-Yves Ancel, Martin Chalumeau, Catherine Deneux, Camille Le Ray, François Goffinet and Jennifer Zeitlin were auditioned on Tuesday April 02, 2024 by members of this mission.

See the hearing of the Epopé team members on the Senate website

The aim of this fact-finding mission, chaired by Senator Annick JACQUEMET, is to examine the organization of care to be implemented in order to achieve better perinatal health care, both medically and territorially.

Description of the background to the fact-finding mission (sic):

“The number of maternity units in France has almost halved over the past thirty years. Due to a lack of staff, many small maternity units have been forced to close for varying lengths of time. Against a general backdrop of falling birth rates, this raises issues of social and territorial equity in terms of perinatal care and birthing conditions for women living far from maternity units, especially the most disadvantaged among them.

In addition, France’s perinatal health situation has been deteriorating over the last ten years: once one of the most advanced countries in this field, it now occupies an unenviable position in international rankings. At a time when the health of mothers is deteriorating and the number of high-risk pregnancies is increasing, neonatal mortality is once again on the rise in France, and is particularly high in the French overseas territories.

In response to this dual public health concern, the Rassemblement Démocratique et Social Européen (RDSES) group has decided, within the framework of its drawing rights, to launch a fact-finding mission to examine the organization of care to be implemented in order to achieve better perinatal health care, at both medical and territorial levels. The members of this mission have also interviewed representatives of the Haute Autorité de Santé and Santé Publique France, doctors’ and midwives’ unions, learned societies of perinatal health professionals, representatives of the Académie de Médecine, the steering committee for the Assises de la Pédiatrie et de la Santé de l’Enfant, and hospital federations”.

The results of this work should be made public before summer 2024.