COVID-19 crisis exacerbates the global shortage of 900,000 midwives ANI | Updated: May 06, 2021 15:06 IST
New Delhi [India]/ New York [US], May 6 (ANI/NewsVoir): Millions of lives of women and newborns are lost, and millions more experience ill health or injury, because the needs of pregnant women and skills of midwives are not recognized or prioritized.
The world is currently facing a shortage of 900,000 midwives, which represents a third of the required global midwifery workforce. The COVID-19 crisis has only exacerbated these problems, with the health needs of women and newborns being overshadowed, midwifery services being disrupted and midwives being deployed to other health services.
New report sounds alarm on shortage of midwives thehimalayantimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thehimalayantimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Last modified on Thu 6 May 2021 02.16 EDT
The world is facing a shortage of 900,000 midwives, with more than half the shortfall in Africa, where nearly two-thirds of maternal deaths occur, according to a new survey.
Insufficient resources and a failure to recognise the importance of the role mean there has been little progress since the last study in 2014, according to the State of the World’s Midwifery report, which looked at 194 countries.
There are an estimated 1.9 million midwives and associate midwives working globally, 90% of them women. The report, published by the World Health Organization, the International Confederation of Midwives and the UN population fund (UNFPA) on Wednesday, said little progress had been made to improve midwifery care in the past seven years and the Covid pandemic had exacerbated the shortage with midwives deployed to support other health services.
Views: Visits 9 CREDIT: Canadian Association of Midwives Dr Natalia Kanem, the Executive Director, UN Population Fund (UNFPA), has stressed the need for increased investment in midwives to save more lives. She made the call in a statement issued by the UNFPA Nigeria Media Consultant, Mrs Kori Habib, on Wednesday in Abuja to mark the 2021 International Day of the Midwife (IDM), with the theme “Follow the Data, Invest in Midwives.” The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that IDM is annually marked on May 5 around the globe to highlight the important roles nurses and midwives play in national development. It is also a day to highlight key issues affecting the health workforce. This year’s international day of the midwife focuses on rising spate of violence against women and girls.
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International Day of the Midwife: Invest in midwives to save more lives UNFPA
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CREDIT: Canadian Association of Midwives
Dr Natalia Kanem, the Executive Director, UN Population Fund (UNFPA), has stressed the need for increased investment in midwives to save more lives.
She made the call in a statement issued by the UNFPA Nigeria Media Consultant, Mrs Kori Habib, on Wednesday in Abuja to mark the 2021 International Day of the Midwife (IDM), with the theme “Follow the Data, Invest in Midwives.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that IDM is annually marked on May 5 around the globe
to highlight the important roles nurses and midwives play in national development.