Midwives from different parts of the world have called on health authorities to put in place improved welfare services to make their lives and working environments much better.
This was disclosed by an organisation, White Ribbon Alliance, while briefing journalists at a conference to present a survey of 56,0000 midwives from 101 countries.
Speaking at the meeting, the deputy executive director, White Ribbon Alliance, Angela Nguku called on the health bodies to ensure that only competent midwives handle the needs of women and girls.
According to her, the report called on the government to tackle the global maternal health crisis and details demands on what is needed to support midwives globally.
She said the survey will be presented by the White Ribbon Alliance (WRA), the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and its allies.
“The report is meant to bring the voices of midwives to the forefront. We do not want our members suffering as usual. We want to change the narrative by ensuring that we bring about positive development to the life of our members.
” In some countries, we do not have enough gynaecologists [and] the midwives fill the gap. They need to be treated properly and not sidelined.”
The representative of ICMCE Sally Pairman said the survey is a landmark reality for all countries to support the health and wellbeing of midwives.
“We must begin to support the services of midwives to drastically reduce maternal deaths. We want to be responsible for their success and not their failure.
“The midwives are demanding better remuneration globally. When they are being treated appropriately, we will have good outcomes in terms of mother and children.”
Also, Pairman called for a reduction in the use of technology to reduce the loss of jobs to professional midwives.
A midwife from Malawi Linda Masamba revealed that during the Coronavirus pandemic there was a shortage of staff and some of the team members were drafted to the treatment centre.
” The midwives went through a whole lot during the pandemic and some lost their jobs during that period. Some of our members are still on the lookout for a job till now,” she added.
