The Midwifery Unit Network (MUNet) is a community of practice which aims to promote and support the implementation and improvement of midwifery units (MUs) in the UK and internationally. It was launched in April 2016 and has been growing fast since its inception. In this article, three co-leads of MUNet describe why they set up the network and how they established it. The aim of the article is to inspire more midwives to consider establishing a community of practice, and to offer some guidance in doing so.
This occasional series aims to share, discuss and promote midwifery in a global context. Midwifery is a truly global profession and even those of us who work solely in the UK will care for women from many different cultures; these articles reflect the experiences of midwives and students working in both the UK and in Asia, Australasia, Africa and Europe. The first few articles of the series have been developed by students undertaking a global maternity module at The University of Leeds. Each of these articles will be presented in a two-part format: a feature in print and an accompanying reflection hosted on our website. We encourage you to review both to support your full engagement with the series.
Report review runs alongside Guideline commentary and the other evidence series articles, examining local, national and international reports that have implications directly or indirectly for midwives. It helps readers to understand what reports mean for midwifery practice and to place report recommendations into context. As with all our evidence series articles, report reviews support you to critique recommendations and implications for your own practice. In 2016, Ireland launched its first ever maternity strategy (Department of Health (IDH) 2016). This followed many high-profile controversies, including maternal and neonatal deaths due to medical misadventure. This article reviews Ireland's history of maternity services, the new strategy and current perinatal mental health services.

