Midwifery is a term not too used in Spain but in many other places in Latin America and refers to the job of "partying", which is what the doctor or midwife does when attending who is in labor. WHO has pointed out ten data on midwifery in the world, extremely interesting to know its importance as health agents.
The services of midwives are essential to ensure a healthy and safe pregnancy and childbirth. Worldwide, approximately 350,000 women die each year as a result of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.
Most of these largely preventable deaths occur in low-income countries and in poor and rural areas. Many maternal and neonatal deaths can be prevented if qualified midwives are available to care for women before, during and after childbirth, and are able to refer them to emergency obstetric care if serious complications arise.
Ten data on midwifery
These are the ten facts about midwives WHO offers and that realize its importance:
Qualified midwives reduce the risk of death during childbirth. Around 1,000 women and almost 10,000 newborns die each day from largely preventable complications during pregnancy, childbirth and the immediate puerperium. In addition, every year, almost three million children are born dead. Many of those lives could be saved if all births were attended by a midwife.
More than one third of deliveries take place without the help of a midwife or other qualified healthcare professional. The fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG 5) aims to improve maternal health. A greater number of midwives must be trained to achieve the MDG 5 goal of increasing the number of deliveries attended by qualified health personnel to 95% in 2015.
Midwives also provide essential care after delivery. After birth, midwives help mothers breastfeed and prevent the transmission of HIV to the child. They examine the health of the newborn and also give advice to the mother about the care she should receive, about the spacing of births and family planning.
Only one in three rural women in developing areas receives the necessary attention. During pregnancy and childbirth, women who live in rural areas or remote districts and smaller health centers lack midwives and health workers with sufficient midwifery knowledge to serve their communities. Therefore, countries need to improve the distribution and loyalty of midwives, especially in poor and remote areas.
Midwives need refresher and support courses on a regular basis. They need training to acquire and maintain the skills required to provide quality care to women and newborns. In addition to offering opportunities for midwives to update their skills, governments must adopt policies that allow midwives to apply all their theoretical and practical knowledge in the community, health centers and hospitals.
It is essential that midwives work on equipment that has the necessary supplies. Midwives need more than training to do their job satisfactorily. To provide quality care, they also need adequate infrastructure, readily available medicines and supplies, water and sanitation services, communication systems, and an operating bypass system in case complications arise during childbirth.
Few reliable data on the number of midwives in exercise. We ignore how many properly trained professionals are actually working in delivery rooms and how the workforce is distributed in regions and countries, but that information is necessary to formulate targeted national plans and programs.
Many qualified midwives leave their country to work abroad. Countries often have difficulties in retaining qualified personnel due to the difficult working conditions, the low remuneration, support and supervision they receive and the lack of career prospects. Many qualified midwives manage to work abroad with better wages and working conditions, and that creates a shortage of qualified personnel in the countries that need them most.
WHO advises countries on how to support midwives. WHO collaborates with countries to ensure that national health strategies and plans take into account issues related to midwifery. WHO encourages countries to revalue midwifery as a profession and supports midwives as an essential pillar of the workforce dedicated to maternal and neonatal health.
WHO collaborates with various partners to increase the number of qualified midwives. According to recent estimates, countries need a minimum of six health workers with midwifery knowledge per 1000 births so that 95% of women are treated during childbirth and to accelerate the reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality. WHO supports countries to correct the shortage of health workers.
Despite the importance of this profession to reduce perinatal death in the world, midwives are still lacking, so their claim remains as a fundamental task of health agencies, as they claim ten facts about midwives in the world published by WHO.
