Midwives, most dedicated frontline health workers — UNFPA

Midwives have been described as the most dedicated frontline health workers—humanitarians and heroes—who, when bombs fall or floods wash away roads and homes, where services are severed and infrastructure has collapsed, are often the first responders and the last line of defence.

The tribute was made during the International Day of the Midwife, celebrated on 5th May, as contained in a statement by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director, Dr Natalia Kanem. The statement was read by Deborah Tabara, Gender/Reproductive Health Analyst and State Programme Officer, Bauchi, during the celebration organised in collaboration with the Bauchi State Ministry of Health/Primary Health Care Board on Monday, 5th May 2024, at the Aliko Dangote College of Nursing Sciences. The event was held under the theme: Midwives: Critical in Every Crisis.

According to the UNFPA Executive Director, “They often travel across even the most remote and dangerous terrain to ensure essential services that save lives and safeguard health and human rights. In humanitarian settings, women are twice as likely to die in childbirth.”

She further noted, “Deploying midwives as part of every humanitarian and national disaster response is a life-saving and cost-effective way to reduce preventable maternal deaths.”

Dr Kanem emphasised that, “Midwives can provide 90 per cent of essential sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health services, including family planning. They also support survivors of gender-based violence, which skyrockets during crises.”

She added, “Midwives often put themselves at enormous risk when they venture out to provide care to women and girls in hard-to-reach homes and communities in crisis settings. Yet, midwifery is still not always recognised as the vital health profession it is.”

The UNFPA Executive Director lamented that, “Chronic underinvestment in midwifery has translated to inadequate training, a lack of infrastructure and supplies, and low salaries—barriers that are present in times of stability and only grow worse in times of crisis.”

She warned, “Recent severe funding cuts to humanitarian assistance threaten to widen these gaps, with tragic impacts on women and girls in some of the world’s most challenging places. Already, midwives are reporting rising death rates among women and newborns in conflict zones and fragile contexts—an ominous sign in settings where over 60 per cent of global maternal deaths are reported.”

“We know that midwives could avert two-thirds of maternal and newborn deaths, while delivering vast economic and social benefits—from lower healthcare costs to more productive workforces. Women and entire societies would be both less vulnerable to crisis and more equipped to recover from it,” she stressed.

Dr Kanem further stated, “On this International Day of the Midwife, we call on governments and donors to join UNFPA and partners in the Midwifery Accelerator Initiative, which aims to increase financial and programmatic investments in midwives—and the systems that support them—before more lives are lost.”

She concluded, “Midwives save lives. Let us work together to end the global shortage of nearly one million midwives and to ensure that we can end preventable maternal deaths once and for all.”

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