UNFPA Uganda joined the rest of the world in celebrating the International Day of the Midwife in Soroti District on 5 May. The day is celebrated to acknowledge the unwavering commitment of midwives safeguarding lives and ensuring the wellbeing of mothers and their new born babies.
This year’s UNFPA theme for the International Day of the Midwife was ‘Together Again: From Evidence to Reality’, which highlights increased actions for the enhancement of quality midwifery care worldwide.
Midwives & Nurses kick off to match around Soroti City during the Commemoration Day of the Midwives on 5 May 2023
In her statement on the International Day of the Midwife 2023, the Executive Director, Dr Natalia Kanem, underscored the indispensable role of midwives in providing essential information on sexual and reproductive health, including family planning, as well as helping people navigate often sensitive issues in a variety of contexts such as humanitarian settings. She highlighted that every woman has the right to lifesaving healthcare and midwives are critical in making it happen.
To contribute to the Sustainable Development Goal 3, stakeholders should dwelve into the agenda of reducing maternal mortality to 70/100,000 live births and neonatal mortality to as low as 12/1000 live births by the year 2030, to ensure a world where every pregnancy is wanted and every childbirth is safe.
Ostensibly, there is a shortage of 900,000 midwives worldwide, yet these medical service providers are essential in the aspect of maternal health.
As crucial service providers, midwives should be fully integrated into the health-care systems. Subsequently, well-trained midwives provide essential sexual and reproductive health care, protecting health and human dignity for women and their families. Midwife-led care models improve health outcomes, increase patient satisfaction and reduce costs.
Furthermore, midwives provide the entire Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) care including the prevention and management of Gender-Based Violence (GBV). It is also evident that midwives with the right skills and competencies help to avert roughly two thirds of all maternal and neonatal deaths, as well as delivering 90% of all essential sexual, reproductive, maternal and new born health services (State of the World’s Midwifery Report, 2021).
In her remarks, Dr Mary Otieno, UNFPA Country Representative, commended the midwives for their unwavering commitment to saving lives and ensuring the health and well-being of women and new born babies.
“This day is important to UNFPA as it avails us an opportunity to pause and reflect on the important work that we do in partnership with this special cadre of health workers,” Dr Otieno said.
Dr Otieno called upon strengthening the midwifery workforce, especially investing in education and training to avert preventable maternal and new born deaths.
The UNFPA Uganda Country Representative also thanked the midwives who work tirelessly amidst financial challenges and other barriers to ensure childbirth is safe and assured them of support from UNFPA and partners to strengthen their workforce.
The Swedish envoy in Uganda, Her Excellency Maria Håkansson, also commended the midwives for their role that goes beyond and lays the ground for individuals and families to plan their lives, enabling them to make informed choices.
“Midwives support and promote healthy families, empower women and couples to choose whether, when and how often to have children since they are central for empowerment,” she said
The Swedish envoy in Uganda also noted that midwives play a great role in supporting and counselling women and couples regarding SRHR, which is vital in empowering teenage and adolescent girls to take informed decisions to reduce the risks of becoming pregnant at an early age, as well as other diseases like HIV.
- Written by Emmanete Nabwire
