Today, I celebrate International Day of the Midwife and mark the International Confederation of Midwives centennial.

I applaud our collective progress; acknowledge how far we have come in advocating for and delivering, investments in midwifery.

Midwives support and protect women, newborns and families. They are crucial to reducing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Each day they stand up for the rights of women to receive respectful maternity care and fight on the frontlines. Midwifery spans an incredible breadth in healthcare, yet many midwives across the globe, who are predominantly women, face persistent struggles rooted in gender equality, a lack of investment in their profession, training and education, pay gaps and limited protection. 

Imagine a world where midwives have achieved the investments they deserve, from equitable compensation, fair working conditions and protections, standardised regulation frameworks, equal opportunities to local education, and policy which protects them from gender-based abuse and harassment; midwives would be well supported to avert roughly two-thirds of maternal, newborn deaths and stillbirths by 2035; 1.9 million stillbirths averted every year, 2 million neonatal deaths averted every year, 280K maternal deaths averted every year, saving 4.3 million lives per year.

Midwives must be recognised for what they are: a pathway to achieving the #SDGs. Evidence demonstrates that in order to improve maternal and neonatal health, improve sexual and reproductive health and rights and meet the Sustainable Development Goals, midwife-led continuity of care is crucial. Policies which allow midwives to perform their full scope of practice, strengthen primary healthcare systems, and provide an innovative opening to achieving universal health coverage. 

The midwife, by virtue of her education, sphere, the scope of practice and unique relationship with women and their families, is in an ideal position to provide the information, services and support which women need in planning their families, as well as to influence the type of services based on the International Confederation of Midwives Global Standards for Midwifery Regulation. If midwives had equal access to education, they would have greater career satisfaction and longevity, and all families would have access to culturally relevant, professional sexual and reproductive healthcare, and maternal health. Women and other birthing people everywhere would benefit from life-enhancing, professional and respectful, care and the standards of midwifery practice all over the globe would be raised.

The global evidence unequivocally indicates: that increased investments in midwives and midwifery have led to healthier, happier families and communities in every corner of the world. I see it daily with my Wellbeing Foundation Africa midwives, who conduct various programming from our flagship Mamacare360, which delivers care in line with the World Health Organization recommendations and bridges gaps by making the mother a premium partner in her outcome, through respectful maternity care, education and awareness, to our Sanitation Angel midwives, who deliver key WASH and SRHR knowledge and best practice to children and adolescents in schools, and health workers in public and private primary, secondary and tertiary health facilities across Nigeria. 

That is why I call on governments, policymakers, regulatory authorities, educational institutions and international and civil society organisations to turn their focus to paving the way for midwives, with universal access to sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health services, addressing equity at all levels and leaving no one behind. It is simple: midwives equal sustainable healthcare. 

Today I thank the midwives who stand up for the rights of women to receive respectful maternity care. The midwives who offer contraception even though their societies refuse. The midwives who have supported pregnant women who are suffering from abuse and cannot return home. The midwives that say no to performing FGM. The midwives that have held perpetrators of rape and violence accountable, despite fear of the ramifications. The midwives that continue to hold the torch for gender equality and defend women and girls. Midwives need support at all levels of a nation to practise in a safe and enabling environment. Midwives should be free from harm going to work, at work and in their homes.

Driven by one strong collective voice, we must continue advancing and mobilising the evidence to ensure the next 100 years are even more monumental for midwives, women, newborns and all people. I am in awe each day of midwives around the globe, and proud that each passing year feels more significant for midwives and midwifery than the one before it. We must continue to #PushForMidwives, around the globe. 

 

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