Story By: Ishmael Barfi
Celebrating International Day of the Midwife, the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) has described midwives as instrumental in navigating the numerous challenges in providing quality community health care globally.
According to the UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Natalia Kanem midwives can provide up to 90 percent of essential services for sexual and reproductive health and bring their expertise and counsel to women wherever they are.
“Right now, around the world, millions of lives are in the hands of midwives. Whether they are wading through flood waters to reach pregnant women or delivering babies amid the, or in the scorching sun flying at 40 degrees, midwives are the unsung heroes of community health services”, she acknowledged.
These was in a message to celebrate the International Day of the Midwife on 5th May 2024 under the theme: “Midwives: A Vital Climate Solution”.
The International Day of the Midwife (IDM) celebrated by the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) in 1992 is an annual observance that celebrate and recognizes the vital role midwives play in maternal and newborn health.
And also to use the day to raise awareness about the importance of midwifery care, advocate for midwife rights, and highlight their contributions to safe childbirth and improved maternal and infant outcomes.
In her message, Dr. Natalia Kanem noted that midwife contributions have made births safer that the sexual and reproductive health care they provide is more attuned to a woman needs, desires, and local cultural practices.
“When crisis strikes, midwives are often first on the scene, especially in remote communities. They know that babies arrive no matter a childbearing woman’s circumstances – whether resting at home or fleeing it due to conflict or disaster”, she reiterated.
Adding, “Yet, there remains a critical global shortage of around a million midwives“.
Despite all these contributions, a woman or girl dies every two minutes somewhere in the world due to pregnancy, childbirth, or its aftermath. Now, climate change threatens to make the situation worse.
Speaking to the theme: Midwives: A Vital Climate Solution, she indicated that, hotter temperatures complicate pregnancies and can lead to premature births and miscarriages.
In addition,sudden floods can sweep away roads, making it impossible to reach health facilities. Extreme weather events put women and girls at heightened risk of displacement, child, and forced marriage and can take away their means of supporting themselves.
Therefore midwives play a critical role during this period, thus providing quality community health care.
Meanwhile, in the Northern part of Ghana, Dr. Natalia Kanem revealed that midwives continued to provide reproductive health services to women and girls who were asylum seekers/refugees when the Akosombo Dam Spillage Flood occurred,
In addition, midwives she said continued to provide reproductive health services to the women and girls who were displaced by the flood.
“Because of the central role of midwives in reproductive health care, UNFPA Ghana has been investing in midwifery education, regulation, and strengthening the roles of professional midwifery association”, she disclosed.
Furthermore, “UNFPA supported the initiation of the Bachelor of Science degree in midwifery at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi while UNFPA continues to provide additional support to KNUST such as the donation of skills laboratory equipment in 2023 to improve the quality of skills of the midwifery students.
Giving more details on the numerous contributions, She said UNFPA in partnership with the Ministry of Health, in 2023 supported the assessment of 16 midwifery schools to establish Midwifery Centres of Excellence; and supported the development of preceptorship guidelines for midwives and trained tutors in its application.
“In addition, UNFPA worked with the Ministry of Health and other partners to support the review of the Nursing and Midwifery Strategic Plan (2024 – 2028) and continuing to work with midwifery
associations to foster a stronger and harmonized voice that champions midwifery cause and reproductive health in general;” Dr. Natalia Kanem reiterated.
“So, on this International Day of the Midwife, as we celebrate their countless achievements, let us write a new narrative – one in which we commit to supporting the midwifery profession, especially
during A worsening climate crisis makes the need for midwives more urgent than ever. The time to act is now, she urged.
Adding “Without significantly expanding midwifery, more women will die in childbirth. Millions of stories will have no heroes and instead end in tragedy”.
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency with the mission to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
