Half of the World's Pregnant Women Still Lack Access to Skilled Care at Childbirth

HAMMAMET, Tunisia — Midwives and public health experts from 20 countries around the world are gathering here today for the first-ever International Forum on “Midwifery in the Community.” They aim to raise awareness and generate guidance that will assist in saving the lives of more than 5 million women and over 45 million newborns by 2015.

Half of the world’s pregnant women still have no access to skilled care at childbirth. This contributes to a persistently high number of mothers and babies who continue to die every day for want of skilled attendance at birth. To ensure that every pregnant woman and newborn has access to a skilled birth attendant, ICM, the International Confederation of Midwives; UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund; WHO, the World Health Organization; and their partners are calling on governments to invest in developing and scaling-up of “Midwifery in the Community”.

Evidence shows that the health and well-being of mothers and their babies have improved in several countries, such as Costa Rica, Egypt, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Tunisia, because of their investment in midwives’ and others’ training through national midwifery programme development.

“Midwives form the bridge between communities and facilities. They transcend the levels of care within health systems, and are essential to the continuum of care during the childbearing cycle,” said Kathy Herschderfer, the Secretary-General of the ICM.

Access to skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth is a woman’s basic human right. Investment in the training and supporting midwives is urgently needed worldwide. An estimated 334,000 more midwives are required to reduce maternal and newborn death and disability, according to the 2005 WHO World Health Report. “A strong midwifery profession is key to achieving safer childbirth, and all pregnant women should have access to a midwife,” said UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid.

In recent years, some governments in Northern Africa, Eastern and South-east Asia and Latin America have expanded access to skilled birth attendants, resulting in significant improvements in maternal and newborn health. Around the world, governments still face major challenges—especially in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals can be achieved by establishing and implementing strong national policies and strategies for the development; scaling-up and supporting “Midwifery in the Community”.

Supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), the Government of Luxembourg and other donors from non-governmental organizations and the academic community, this Forum highlights the fundamental role of the “Midwifery in the Community” approach as a major step towards ensuring that families, especially the most vulnerable, enjoy safe and healthy reproductive years.

The strengthening, standardization and scaling-up of “Midwifery in the Community”, as part of a multisectoral approach to the health system, will enable national governments to work towards reducing maternal and newborn mortality. This is essential for the achievement of the MDGs by 2015.

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ICM, the heart and voice of midwives across the world, was founded in 1919. It is a Confederation of 88 midwifery associations from 75 countries. Its mission is to advance worldwide the aims and aspirations of midwives in attaining improved outcomes for women in their childbearing years, their babies and their families, wherever they reside.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

WHO, the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.

Contact Information:

UNFPA: Henrietta Aswad, tel.: + 962-77-765 4544, aswad@unfpa.org

ICM: Elizabeth Duff, tel.:+31-70-3060520, e.duff@internationalmidwives.org or visit www.internationalmidwives.org