Midwives Day: Osotimehin Harps On Child, Maternal Targets

The international community celebrated the International Day for  Midwives last Saturday with a call for more access to midwifery services, to reduce maternal and child mortality.

May 5 is celebrated annually as the International Day for Midwives, to recognise the work of midwives globally.

The International Confederation of Midwives, said the theme for the celebration is “The World Needs Midwives Today More Than Ever’’.

In a statement released by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the Executive Director, Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, stated that countries needed to scale up action in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5.

MDGs 4 and 5 are targeted at reducing maternal, neonatal and infant deaths worldwide.

Osotimehin said that no health care system would be efficient and effective if it ignored the importance of midwifery.

“Urgent action is needed to achieve the MDGs on child and maternal health before the target year of 2015.

“Investing in human resources for health especially midwifery is one of the soundest investments a country can make to accelerate progress.”

The Executive Director said that midwives were “unsung heroes’’ of women and children’s health, stressing that their work must be supported every step of the way.

According to the International Confederation of Midwives Website, over 800,000 newborn babies die during childbirth, and more than three million babies die before they are one month old.

It stated that more than 7.6 million children die before the age of five, stressing that this was preventable with proper midwifery care.

Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Ado Mohammed, said that there was an improvement in maternal and child health in Nigeria , following the deployment of midwives to rural araeas under the Midwives Service Scheme (MSS).

Mohammed said that the MSS was established in 2009 to provide an end to maternal and child mortality in the country.

He, however, said efforts must be scaled up to ensure that every childbearing woman had access to  midwifery care whenever it was needed.