As the world is celebrating the International Midwives Day today, UNFPA as part of the UN system Delivering as One in Tanzania, is calling on the government to invest more in midwives to reduce maternal and new born deaths in the country, especially in rural and remote areas.
Every year half a million women die in pregnancy or childbirth and 10-15 million suffer serious and long lasting illness or injuries. Many of these deaths and disabilities could be prevented if all birth were attended by a skilled midwife. “By investing in midwives and ensuring universal access to quality sexual and reproductive health including family planning, skilled attendance at birth and backed by emergency obstetric care, millions of women and newborn lives can be saved”, commented Dr. Julitta Onabanjo, UNFPA Country Representative.
As Tanzania places high commitment and priority to improving the lives of women, newborn and children, one of the most important investments it needs to make is around midwifery services to ensure quality and skilled care during pregnancy, delivery and post delivery.
“It is important to make midwives a special priority within health programmes, policies and budgets, and to specifically highlight this cadre of health workers in strategies and plans on human resources for health,” Dr. Onabanjo adds.
From time immemorial, women have helped each other through the peril of childbirth. Today, equipped with skills, medicines, supplies, technology, innovation and cutting edge knowledge, trained midwives can save significant numbers of women who experience complications during delivery and where they are not able to intervene, refer to a higher level of care. But still more efforts are needed to equip and train more midwives.
Currently, the world is facing an acute shortfall of some 350,000 professional midwives. With the current rapid population growth and birth rates, Tanzania needs at least 26,000 more nurses and midwives to be able to reach MDG5 by 2015.
According to the national Human Resources for Health Strategic Plan (HRHSP – 2008-2003), Tanzania’s health facilities require 125,824 health workers, while the actual available number is 35,202. The situation has remained at this crisis level for a number of years, with approximately 65 percent of positions unfilled.
Renewed efforts by the government with support from development partners including the UN will result in increasing the number of health workers and the quality of their training in addition to addressing the working conditions that will allow more midwives and health providers to be attracted to the profession, motivated and retained, even in remote areas.
In 2011, UNFPA is highlighting the crucial role midwives play in saving lives and strengthening national health systems. Together with more than 20 partners, UNFPA will release the first ever State of the World’s Midwifery report in June in Durban, South Africa at the Triennial Conference of the International Confederation of Midwives.
The State of World Midwifery report, aims to strengthen midwifery, in part, by providing new information and data gathered from 60 countries in all regions of the world including Tanzania. The report will:-
examine the number and distribution of health professionals involved in the delivery of midwifery services explore emerging issues related to education, regulation, professional associations, policies and external aid analyze global issues regarding health personnel with midwifery skills, most of whom are women, and the constraints and challenges that they face in their lives and work call for accelerating investments for scaling up midwifery services, as well as improving the skills of health care workers .
“I believe that midwives are the true, yet silent heroes behind the success we have had in reducing maternal and new born deaths and if we are to meet MDG5 by 2015, we have to do much more in investing in midwives. This is the UNFPA message to the world on this year’s International Day of the Midwives,” Dr. Onabanjo commented.
In celebrating the International Day of the Midwives, UNFPA and the UN family, renews its commitment to work together with the government to improve the education, status and working conditions of midwives. We do so in celebration of quality midwifery worldwide and in recognition that the world needs midwives now more than ever to protect the lives of women and their new born babies.
For more information please contact Sawiche Wamunza, Communication Analyst, Tel: 0767 919 729, Email: wamunza@unfpa.org. To learn more about midwives, please visit: www.international midwives.org
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