See Françoise Freedman’s tribute to Michel Odent, who passed away last August, given at the Birthlight mini conference on the 6th July 2026, Homerton College, Cambridge. Michel Odent presented at many Birthlight Conferences in the past.
“So many words commonly used to describe childbirth- support, patient, management, delivered by, coached, helped, guided- suggest that a woman does not have the power to give birth without being dependent on somebody else. This isn’t the case at all.” Michel Odent
Coincidentally the following day would have been Michel’s birthday:
Michel Odent set up the Primal Health Research database.
“Primal Health Research” explores correlations between the ‘primal period’ (fetal life, perinatal period and year following birth) and health and personality traits in later life. In the book “Primal Health” (first edition 1986)1 we predicted a new generation of research confirming that our health is shaped during the primal period. In order to prepare for a renewed understanding of health and diseases, a simplified vocabulary was proposed (see glossary). Today the point is not to anticipate a phenomenon, but to observe its development and to draw preliminary conclusions. From 1993 onwards, our quarterly newsletter did just that. Since 1998 a computerised database is a necessity.
Michel pioneered the idea of birth in water with his article in The Lancet in 1983: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/17044877_Birth_under_water
“It seems that many health professionals involved in antenatal care have not realised that one of their key role should be to protect the emotional state of pregnant women.” Michel Odent