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Midwives – the unsung heroes of maternal health

A [b]United Nations[/b] report lauds midwives as the unsung heroes of maternal and newborn health and urges greater investment in these healthcare professionals, who possibly could prevent two-thirds of deaths among women and newborns. [s]Polity[/s] notes that the report, launched by the [b]UN Population Fund[/b], together with the [b]International Confederation of Midwives[/b] (ICM) and the [b]World Health Organisation[/b] (WHO), also calls for more to be done to address the severe shortage of midwifery care across low- and middle-income countries. While visible progress has been made since the inaugural study was released in 2011, those countries home to 96% of the global burden of maternal mortality, 91% of stillbirths and 93% of newborn mortality have only 42% of the world’s physicians, midwives and nurses. When trained and supported by a functional health system, midwives can provide 87% of the essential care needed for women and newborns.

[link url=http://www.polity.org.za/article/the-state-of-the-worlds-midwifery-2014-june-2014-2014-06-04]Full Polity report[/link]
[link url=http://unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2014/EN_SoWMy2014_complete.pdf]UN report[/link]

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