Monthly Archives: May 2012

Why the world needs more midwives

May 5th marks the International Day of the Midwife, and here at Merlin we’re championing midwives working in some of the world’s toughest places.

In the UK we take it for granted that expectant mothers are guided through pregnancy with the help of a midwife. To give birth without a midwife present would be unthinkable, yet each year 48 million women give birth without the support of a trained midwife, and over 2.4 million of those women give birth utterly alone.

This tragically results in hundreds of thousands of women in developing countries dying from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth; millions more suffer from infection and disability. More than 800, 000 newborn babies die during child birth, with over 3 million dying before they are even one month old. The majority of these lives could be saved by a skilled birth attendant.

Simply providing skilled care before, during and after childbirth can reduce the rate of maternal mortality and save the lives of newborn babies and infants. The difference one trained midwife can make, even with basic equipment is enormous. Midwives are vital, they save lives.

However many countries where Merlin works are facing a chronic shortage of midwives.

In Afghanistan, there is 1 trained midwife per 20,000 people. One guaranteed way to stem the needless loss of life we’re seeing in countries like Afghanistan is to increase the number of trained midwives in that country.

In Afghanistan, we have established a successful Community Midwife Education programme, which trains women in rural communities to be a midwife, on the basis that they will return to and help the women in their communities.

A similar programme is currently set up in Liberia. The Zwedru Midwifery Training School is helping provide Liberia with a new generation of community midwives through its free 2-year, full-time course.

These new midwives in Afghanistan and Liberia will go on to provide pregnant women in isolated rural communities with vital and life saving medical care. Midwives need more than just training to be successful – in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we also provide the community midwives with wages, supplies and communication to help them continue saving lives.

There are no quick solutions to reducing maternal mortality. We need to ensure that midwives on the ground in crisis countries get the support they need and thousands more are trained, in order to save lives. For this year’s International Day of the Midwife, help Merlin train and support more midwives and help save lives.

Louise Holly, Save the Children United Kingdom

This Saturday, May 5, is International Day of the Midwife. It’s the prefect opportunity to acknowledge the vital work that midwives do around the world each and every day.

Catherine, who works at a special care baby unit in Nigeria, gives an insight into one day in her life in this video:

Performing miracles

Even in the most difficult circumstances, midwives everywhere are performing miracles to support safe deliveries and ensure that babies have the best start in life.

The world needs more midwives and governments need to do more to ensure that midwives everywhere are supported to do their jobs effectively.

Read our report Missing Midwives to learn more about the global shortage and the actions needed to address it.

British midwives help to Build it for Babies

This week I had the opportunity to meet up with a group of British midwives who are supporting our Build it for Babies campaign to raise funds for seven health clinics in Bangladesh.

It was impossible not to be impressed and inspired by the enthusiasm and commitment that each of the women had for providing the best possible care to mums and babies. Our discussion confirmed my assumption that being generally lovely must be part of a midwife’s job description.

Supporting midwives abroad

Watch our slideshow of midwives at work across the world

What was even more amazing was to hear that not only do the midwives do an amazing job delivering babies in the UK, but many of them are also volunteering their time to train and support midwives in other countries too.

They talked about the contrast in the midwifery services available in the UK with those available in countries like Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ethiopia.

For many women in these countries only the most basic care is available at what can be the most dangerous time in the life of a mother and her newborn baby.

Missing midwives

There’s a global shortage of at least 350,000 midwives and this means that many women and babies die from complications that could be easily prevented by a health worker with the right midwifery skills, equipment and support.

By supporting our Build it for Babies campaign you can help ensure that seven new maternal health clinics in the north east of Bangladesh are fully staffed.

By doing so, you’ll help more than 3,500 newborn babies each year survive their first crucial weeks of life.

You can also show your support for #midwives and other #healthworkers on May 5 (and every day!) through your social media channels.

Visit our virtual clinic to buy anything from a stethoscope to a midwife’s salary for our Build it for Babies appeal

Je salue le courage et l’abnégation de nos vaillantes sage femmes qui oeuvrent inlassablement certaines au risque de leur vie, pour le renforcement du système de santé en prodiguant des soins de qualité aux femmes et aux enfants.
je profite de votre tribune pour réitérer mon engagement ferme à défendre le noble métier de l’ensemble des professionnels de la santé en général et de celui de la sage femme en particulier en prélude à la célébration de la journée mondiale de la sage femme.
Au Niger, nombreuse sont – elles qui sans relâche contibuent contre vent et marée à soulager la souffrance de la femmes nigériennes et des enfants en situation de détresse faute de soins spécialisés.
Notons, un accent particulier doit être mis sur la formation des sages femmes, et en guise de rappel cela cette problématique a été évoqueé au 2ème forum mondial sur les ressources humaines tenu à Bangkok (Thailande) dont j’ai eu la chance de prendre part. Entre autres la motivation et la retention des agents de santé a fait l’objet de débatS.
En ce qui concerne le Niger, des efforts sont faits dans ce sens, notamment le rehaussement du saliare des tous les agents de santé, le recrutement important de sage femme, médecins et autres professionnles de santé. Cette volonté de poursuivre les efforts, afin de motivé davantage le personnel constitue un point fort pour l’atteinte des objectifs du millénaire pour le développement dans nos pays en voie de développement. Il s’agit là d’un bon exemple à suivre… pour que vive la santé.

Boubacar Thiombiano
Directeur des Ressources Humaines
Enseignant permanent à l’Ecole Nationale de Santé Publique.

By Atf Gherissi, PhD, MEdSc, CM, Assistant Professor in Health Science Education at Université Tunis-El Manar

“The mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains, the superior teacher demonstrates and the great teacher inspires.”  Midwifery education is no different from any other subject in that the quality of instruction impacts the quality of service delivery.  In the Middle East and North Africa, there are many obstacles that must be overcome to improve the midwifery education system.  One such obstacle is an updated and regulated midwifery education system.

In most Arab States midwives face challenges similar to those in many other countries: low status of women, gender issues, and being subjected to nurse and/or doctor and employer abuse or conflict. The lack of a distinctive representative body or having one that is not structured or credible has led to an undefined role for midwives in society. Moreover, in the absence of enabling legislation and practice regulation or formal recognition and support for midwives, young girls (and their families) are reluctant to pursue an education or career in midwifery.¹

In the midwifery education systems of the Middle East and North Africa, the “great teacher who inspires” is absent. In fact, the midwifery education systems are mainly training oriented and prioritize the “doing” domain of learning and memorization.  One might compare this to culinary training which consists of learning the recipes from a cookbook instead of culinary education which prepares one for writing a cookbook with new ingredients.²  Although midwifery education programmes have to be competency-based and so mostly training oriented, the concept of competence itself has to be updated to include those skills which make a midwife proficient in adjusting or adapting to a specific situation.The midwifery education system should produce competent midwives whose services meet a woman’s sexual and reproductive health needs and rights on one side, changing priorities within the health system on the other side in addition to the professional guidelines of the midwifery profession.  The education system should also ensure a minimum level of cultural sensitivity and adaptability to the needs of specific populations.Here we come to the need for a balance between these two types of education – training through memorization and repetition of behaviors and education in critical thinking and adaptability -so that midwives can develop critical thinking while continuing to develop clinical skills.

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