Saturday is International Day of the Midwife!

I tell you this a couple of days early, so that my Midwife friends all over the world know that I am thinking of them, and also of the Midwives I have never met. If you have a midwife you love, please send them an e-mail, call them and leave a loving message, or write a postcard to them to tell them they are loved, wanted and respected.

‘The world needs midwives, now more than ever. The world recognises that without you, there can be no safe motherhood.'

(Khama Rogo, World Bank, former co-chair, Partnership for Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health. Address to 2000 midwives at the ICM 27th Triennial Congress, Brisbane, Australia, July 2005)

May 5 is the day to celebrate midwifery worldwide – to remind ourselves and everybody else of the universal importance of midwives’ work and what midwives stand for. Many people, like Dr Khama Rogo who is quoted above, know of the increasing global need for midwives. But others may ask, ‘Why does the world need midwives?’

The first answer lies in the words ‘safe motherhood’. Midwives help prevent maternal and neonatal deaths and also the disabilities that can result from pregnancy and childbirth. This is the basis and the minimum aim of good midwifery practice. In many countries the risk of death or serious complication during pregnancy has been reduced – and this is often attributed to the expansion and professionalisation of midwifery in earlier decades. Yet in all parts of the world midwives can still play a huge and significant role in enhancing the health of childbearing women and their newborns.

The second answer also lies in the words ‘safe motherhood’ – but here ‘safety’ has a broader
implication, meaning that women after childbirth not only have a healthy body but also a healthy
mind. This also has the result that not only mothers and fathers experience the joy and satisfactionof successful birth but their wider families and communities gain pleasure and knowledge from the sight of a confident, empowered woman breastfeeding and caring for her new baby.

Here lies the midwife’s contribution to public health, not just maternal and neonatal health. Health promotion during pregnancy contributes to healthy lifestyles. An informed woman will enter the birth process with confidence. A confident new mother, physically fit and mobile after the experience of birth, is far less likely to suffer anxiety and depression. A healthy and contented mother will feed and care for her baby properly, increasing the chance of a normal, healthy life for both. A happy and enthusiastic mother will join in community life, helping others and spreading knowledge about good practice. A midwife cannot create this precious being, but she can provide the care, support and security needed to nurture these steps in the childbearing cycle: a cycle leading to healthy mothers with healthy families, representing the wealth of nations.

Midwives are women’s first choice for a skilled attendant at birth. They should also be each
country’s first choice for the health professional to lead in care for childbearing women. Many other professions contribute valuable skills to assist women with particular needs, as and when a
complication arises; the midwife is there throughout. Everywhere in the world, whether populations are growing or stabilising, whether families have one child or 10, midwifery skills are needed. Why does the world need more midwives? They promote healthy lifestyles, they protect lives and they celebrate life.

Celebrate midwives - celebrate healthy women and healthy babies – celebrate healthy nations!

International Confederation of Midwives.