UN Agency for Sexual and Reproductive Health Reports Global Shortage of 1 Million Midwives – JURIST

The United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UN Population Fund Agency (UNFPA), released a statement on Sunday to mark International Day of the Midwife. It reported on the risks associated with a global shortage of around one million midwives.

The agency highlighted the essential role that midwives play in preventing maternal deaths and providing “mobile” and urgent health services to women, especially during humanitarian disasters. However, the shortage risks putting women and girls at risk from problems related to pregnancy, childbirth and sexual and reproductive health. According to data from 2023, around 287,000 women die every year as a result of childbirth. However, the agency previously reported that significant but still lacking progress had been made in preventing maternal deaths.

UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem said in a statement:

(T)here is still a critical global shortage of around one million midwives. Their working conditions can be difficult and discourage many from pursuing this profession. The blatant gender discrimination faced by this predominantly female workforce has also resulted in low wages, limited opportunities for advancement and reports of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Without a significant expansion of midwifery work, more women will die in childbirth. Millions of stories will have no heroes and will instead end in tragedy.

The UNFPA stressed that, in addition to the global shortage, there is also an urgent need for an international commitment to the development of the midwifery profession to provide them with quality training and the resources necessary to empower them.

Ahead of International Day of the Midwife, UNFPA reported on the important work midwives do in humanitarian crises. In the Kalambari refugee camp in Chad, which hosts many refugees from Cameroon (most of whom are women and children), “36 cases of premature births and (23 cases of) rape” were treated, according to a midwife working there. The agency said midwives in the refugee camp prevented maternal deaths and “provided a range of sexual and reproductive health services, including those related to family planning, pregnancy and childbirth.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published one Video a Palestinian midwife and head nurse at Al-Emarati Hospital in Gaza, Samar Nazmi Muwafi, to mark the day. In the video, she talks about the hardships women face during the war in Gaza.

UNFPA also announced the launch of a ““Global Midwifery Acceleration Roadmap” in collaboration with UNICEF, WHO and the International Confederation of Midwives, among others, is scheduled to be presented at the World Health Summit later this year in 2024.