Sustainable Midwifery: Caring for Tomorrow’s World

On the 32nd International Day of the Midwife, I am truly honoured to join highly esteemed Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, Ibu Robin Lim, and Ginger Garcia, in delivering keynote addresses to the Virtual International Day of the Midwife, a 24-hour Conference focusing on midwifery as a vital solution in adapting health systems to combat climate change, as midwives and their practice deliver safe and environmentally sustainable health services and are first responders when climate disasters hit.

The Wellbeing Foundation Africa Midwives promote and advocate the standards and frameworks of the International Confederation of Midwives in our mission as continuous providers of safe, quality and ecologically sound health and wellbeing services, especially in the face of the climate crisis, which carries specific threats for women and girls, as hotter temperatures can lead to pregnancy complications and worsen maternal-health issues including premature births.

Midwives are instrumental in ensuring that health services are more mobile and can urgently reach women, yet a global shortage of nearly one million midwives and a lack of international commitment to invest limits their capacity, while further reinforcing the latest data that every two minutes a woman or girl dies during pregnancy, childbirth or its aftermath.

By replenishing and ramping up investing in midwifery education, training and services, and scaling midwifery-delivered care, we aim to contribute to saving 4.3M women and newborns annually by 2035, and to the Global Midwifery Acceleration Roadmap, jointly developed by UNFPA, UNICEF, World Health Organisation and International Confederation of Midwives and global partners, to be launched at the World Health Summit.

Midwives are the providers of culturally sensitive health care, as leaders in their communities, and emergency responders, representing the single-most effective way to achieve safe motherhood and avoid preventable maternal deaths. Today I celebrate the courage and value of midwives globally, and wish everyone a Happy International Day of Midwives 2024!

 

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