World Midwife Day: Celebrating Midwives’ Contribution To Global Health

Thirty-one years after its first celebration, International World Midwife Day has since been observed in over 50 nations around the world. It is celebrated on May 5 every year.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), if the societies including the government invest in midwives, it would lead to a world where every pregnancy is wanted and every childbirth is safe.  Unfortunately, midwifery which is commonly seen as a profession mostly dominated by women is often disrespected and neglected. 

Midwives around the world have reported going several months without a paycheck. In some instances, they are not paid at all.

 It is a common story in some countries that some obstetricians and systems they work in disrespect them. However, in many low-resource settings, many obstetricians are actually trained by midwives.

In addition to caring for women during and after childbirth, midwives also provide a wide range of assistance in humanitarian agencies, and they train and supervise community health workers to provide information and promote safer practices during crises.

UNFPA affirmed that midwives save the lives of some 300,000 women each year and 10 times as many infants. They also play a pivotal role in ensuring universal access to voluntary family planning, and this alone could help prevent 87 million unintended pregnancies as well as unsafe abortions and maternal deaths.

The growing understanding of the contribution midwifery makes has resulted in a strong movement, internationally, to promote and support midwifery, an issue that is bound to come up today on the World Midwife Day.

 Organisations such as the World Health Organisation, (WHO) UNFPA  , the International Confederation of Midwives, the White Ribbon Alliance, and others, are collaborating to build a strong advocacy movement to tackle the barriers to universal provision of high quality midwifery care and to promote and support midwifery.

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