Global Health Actors Celebrate International Day of the Midwife

"The presence of a midwife at birth can mean the difference between life and death."

May 5 - Today is the International Day of the Midwife, a day celebrating the important role midwives and other skilled professionals, especially those in developing countries, play in saving the lives of mothers and babies in pregnancy and childbirth.

The first international day for midwives was launched in 1991. This year’s theme is "The World Needs Midwives Now More Than Ever." The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and affiliated organizations "is aiming to ‘express worldwide solidarity and take action to highlight the knowledge and skills of midwives, and the contribution midwives make to the health of their nations.’ This year's theme is part of a campaign in the years leading up to 2015 to use the overarching theme “The World Needs Midwives Today More Than Ever" to highlight the need for midwives around the world as a way to accelerate progress towards Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5.

In a message to commemorate the day, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund Executive Director Thoraya Obaid called on governments to support midwives in their communities, noting that "Every minute a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth. And the presence of a midwife can save her."

Ms. Obaid also highlighted a UNFPA initiative launched in 2008 with the International Confederation of Midwives to tackle the severe shortage of midwives in more than 30 developing countries.

"Our joint efforts are having results. For example in Laos, a country of more than 5 million people and only 86 midwives, a government plan to address maternal mortality includes strengthened midwifery training, as none currently exist," Ms. Obaid stated.

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