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Donate to Help Expecting Mothers in Haiti
It is difficult to believe how much Haiti is suffering. Not only was its president assassinated a little over a month ago, but a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit last weekend with a death toll now of over 1400. And, if that is not enough, a tropical storm is quickly barreling its way towards the island…
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2020 Marks The International Year of The Nurse and The Midwife #SupportNursesAndMidwives
It is no surprise that the world needs more health workers. In fact, even though there are currently 22 million nurses and 2 million midwives globally there is an urgent need for 18 million more health workers in order to reach universal health care coverage by 2030 according to the World Health Organization. There is…
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Midwives and The Right of Women to Give Birth the Way They Want
Lydia Mwanzia, Moi University Giving birth is a significant life event that should aim for a healthy baby and mother. There are growing calls for women to give birth in their preferred birth positions. But this requires midwives to be trained in a way that enables them to respect the choices that women make. The…
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Better Maternal Care in Africa Can Save Women from Suffering in Childbirth
Kareemah Gamieldien, Cape Peninsula University of Technology Every year just over 500,000 women die from complications in pregnancy and childbirth across the world. Another 20 million experience severe complications. But many of these complications are entirely avoidable – including obstructed and protracted labour and one of its side-effects, obstetric fistula. An obstetric fistula is a…
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Why Breastfeeding Matters to Babies and Mothers
This post was originally published today on the World Vision USA’s blog. When I visit low- and middle-income countries like Ethiopia, Zambia, the Philippines, and Tanzania, I am always heartened by the number of mothers I see breastfeeding their babies. Breastfeeding for so many of these mothers is the best and most affordable way for…
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5 Historic Photos of Southern, Rural Midwives
From time to time I like to look back into history and share photos I find in the Library of Congress archives. I have done that previously with breastfeeding, newborn health, and tuberculosis. Today, I am sharing photographs I found of rural midwives in the south.
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Maternity Ward Observations: Midwifery Care in a Haitian Hospital
The sunny, steaming hot morning when I visited L’Hôpital Sainte-Thérèse in Hinche, Haiti, the maternity unit was overflowing with busy midwives checking charts and administering care, nurses-in-training in white and yellow uniforms obtaining requisite clinical hours, as well as a few obstetricians checking on patients. Of course, there were expectant mothers, mothers who had just…
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Reporting From Haiti This Week
This week I am traveling around Haiti reporting on global health issues that affect women and children. In fact, I am writing this post in the back of a SUV with my fixer and translator headed south of Port-au-Prince to visit Social Good Moms’ partner, Midwives for Haiti. In the poorest country in the Western…
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How Ethiopia is Scaling Midwifery to Save More Mothers, Newborns
Addis Ababa- In Ethiopia there are 4.9 million pregnancies each year of which 84% take place in rural areas. Here in Ethiopia, where the vast majority of women deliver at home, only 32% of maternal, newborn and child health needs are being met by midwives according to the newly released State of Midwifery Report. That is troubling…
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24 Compelling Mobile Photos from #ICMLive
Neonatalie Newborn Resuscitation model in a baby cot, this was one of the models donated by UNFPA to 12 midwifery training schools | UNFPA/Evelyn Kiapi Have you been following the 30th International Confederation of Midwives Triennial Congress? Throughout my travels to low-and middle-income countries and reporting on maternal, newborn, and child health midwives prove time and…
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11 Key Tweets from #ICMLive
Trainee Midwives demonstrating the childbirth process using the Advanced Child birth simulator Anatomical Model donated by UNFPA at the handover ceremony at Public Health Nurses College. UNFPA/Evelyn Kiapi 3000 midwives have gathered in Prague for the 30th International Confederation of Midwives Triennial Congress. I have been reading the twitter stream closely ahead of my upcoming…
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How You Can Celebrate International Day of the Midwife
I am just back from spending over two weeks in Ethiopia. At every health clinic and hospital I visited in both rural and urban areas I had the great privilege of chatting with new and seasoned midwives about their life-saving work. Midwives play a pivotal role in maternal and newborn health in Ethiopia and around the…
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Jhpiego Salutes Women Who Save Mothers’ Lives
Jhpiego, a nonprofit organization that works in developing countries to train health professionals in modern reproductive health care, especially family planning, is celebrating women who save mothers’ lives around the world. Be sure to join us and Jhpiego, USAID’s global Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program MCHIP, John Snow Institute, Women Deliver, and PSI for a twitter chat on how providing mothers…