Midwives Save Wives, Says The United Nations

Promoting midwives could help us solve many of the world’s health and child care issues, according to a report compiled by over 30 health organizations and presented to the U.N. today.

The report surveyed 58 countries that represent under 60 percent of all births worldwide but 91 percent of all maternal deaths. Two-thirds are African countries.

Findings revealed that every year 358,000 women and 3.6 million newborns die in pregnancy, childbirth or shortly after because of complications preventable with the correct medical supervision. Up to another 3 million babies are stillborn.

Yet, according to the study, countries only need a minimum of six midwives for every 1,000 births to cover 95 percent of births. It’s not such a big gap to fill, but it could make a huge difference.

Increasing access to midwives could be key towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals set by the U.N., which aim to improve women’s health, reduce infant death and AIDS drastically by 2015 as midwives could also be a source for primary care in communities where doctors are rare.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is hopeful and determined for this strategy to work.

“Our responsibility is clear: we must safeguard each woman and child so they may live to their full potential,” he wrote in his foreword to the report.

This is the first global midwifery report in 35 years so it’s hard not to wish more frequent reports like this had been published to jump-start this plan of action. In many countries, including the US and Canada, the profession has become incredibly uncommon, in favour of more medicalized births.

Midwifery is often an unjustly underestimated profession, much like nursing. It’s a job that requires equal knowledge of women’s health and pediatrics to administer the best care for both. It’s a good thing it’s now being recognized.

Contact the author here: sedera@morningquickie.com