It is wonderful to wish everyone a happy International Worker’s Day and a great new month as I support an exciting new workstream initiative, Unifying Midwifery In Africa: Reimagine, Reignite, Rise!

It was my pleasure to virtually provide the opening goodwill remarks to the Summit on Unifying Midwifery in Africa for the African Mother, Child and Adolescent, convened in Accra, Ghana, by a 12-member Steering Committee co-chaired by Centre for Health Development and Research-CEHDAR, bringing together colleagues from over 29 African countries, the USA and the Caribbean, including the Nigeria delegation led by the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, to empower African Midwives.

The recent State of the World’s Midwifery Report has established that when midwives are educated to international standards, and midwifery includes the provision of family planning, it could avert more than 80% of all maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths. Achieving this impact also requires midwives to be licensed, regulated, fully integrated into health systems, and working in interprofessional teams. When midwives are equipped with the necessary education, resources, and support, they have the power to achieve global, regional, and national Reproductive maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health goals.

Together, midwives and allies will seek to employ a human-centred consultative process to deliberate and align around key issues influencing midwifery professional development in Africa and the potential impact of a continental coordinating body, while providing an avenue for African midwife leaders and stakeholders to recommend a roadmap and strategic actions for determining the way forward in uniting midwifery in Africa towards improving outcomes for mothers and families.

I was honoured to deliver my expertise, experience and passion for midwifery, as the Wellbeing Foundation Africa represents our Nigerian collective, and defines the strategic directions to mobilise African midwives in culturally adapting the global health agenda to align with regional and national-level evidence-based interventions and promote the African maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health agenda for 2030 and beyond.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Toyin Saraki (@toyinsaraki)