COUNTRIES MUST SCALE UP MDG INTERVENTION With just over 600 days left before the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) deadline, concerted efforts are required to scale up cost-effective interventions in educating midwives and other professionals with midwifery skills. A joint press statement from the UNFPA executive director, Mr Babatunde Osetimehin and the president of the International Confederation of Midwives, Mr Frances Day-Stirk said such investments were critical to accelerating efforts to improve maternal health and achieve MDG five, one of the goals that was said to be lagging behind. The release noted that globally in the past two decades, maternal death has declined by nearly half and that still in the same period the skilled birth attendance had increased by 15 per cent, with two out of three deliveries worldwide now attended by a skilled health professional. It said access to quality health care was a basic human right and that yet, 40 million women gave birth without skilled care, increasing the risk of death and disability for both the mother and new born. “The world needs midwives now more than ever. Investments in midwives can help avert a significant number of nearly 290 000 maternal deaths and three million newborn deaths that occur every year due to lack of well-educated and regulated health workers and adequate facilities,” stated the release. The release further stated that midwives delivered more than babies and also provided other life-saving reproductive health information services including postnatal care and family planning. Furthermore, it said the second launch of the State of the World’s International Confederation of Midwives Triennial Congress to be held in Prague, the Czech Republic in June 2014, will provide new evidence on the returns that investments in midwifery will bring. The congress would be a joint effort of UNFPA, International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), WHO and other global partners. It was anticipated that the congress would disclose the latest data from 73 countries that accounted for more than 95 per cent of global maternal, newborn and child deaths. The release says the new data will help mobilise leadership and action in high-burden countries to strengthen maternal and newborn health services as well as facilitate the provision of quality midwifery services to pregnant women and their babies. UNFPA and the ICM jointly applauded and pledged to support all committed midwives globally, who work beyond the call of duty, most often in difficult circumstances and with limited resources, to provide maternal and newborn care to women and girls around the world. May 5 is recognised as an international day for highlighting the works of midwives and this year’s theme is: Midwives changing the world one family at a time. (BOPA)
Posted on: Sat, 10 May 2014 16:11:59 +0000
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