BANGLADESH NEWS
Dhaka, May 5 The International Day of the Midwife is going to be celebrated in Bangladesh on Saturday as elsewhere in the world.
In a joint statement before the day, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) executive director Babatunde Osotimehin and International Confederation of Midwives' (ICM) secretary general Agneta S. Bridges called upon countries to invest in midwifery services.
"Urgent action is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on child and maternal health before the target year of 2015, and investing in human resources for health, especially midwifery, is one of the soundest investments a country can make to accelerate progress," the joint statement read.
They praised the works of midwives in promoting good health and making childbirths safe and said midwives needed to ensure 'skilled care during deliveries.'
Over 100,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth each year across the globe while additional 8 million women suffer from serious pregnancy-related illnesses and disabilities and 2 million babies do not survive the first 24 hours after birth.
"One of the main causes for these tragedies is lack of access to maternity services, including the care of midwives or others with midwifery skills at childbirth," the statement said.
UNFPA and ICM are working to scale up efforts to strengthen midwifery training programmes and policies in 30 countries.
The UNFPA executive director during his Dhaka visit last year in Aug pledged full support to help in creating midwives in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh government has targeted to create 3,000 midwives by 2015. The National Midwifery Strategy plan is underway.
President of Bangladesh Midwifery Society (BMS) Halima Akhter has told bdnews24.com that currently 180 midwives were working at different hospitals.
"They were general nurses but later given a 6-month special midwifery training," she said.
In Bangladesh nurses having one-year midwifery training work as a general nurse and do not get international recognition as the training does not comply with the international standards and there are no separate positions for midwives.
The ICM suggested recognising midwifery as 'a distinct profession' and promoting it as a career with posts at the national level.
Halima said the upcoming midwifery strategy would address those issues.
With 194 in every 100,000 women die during childbirths each year, Bangladesh is on UN Millennium Development Goal 5 track.
But still around 70 percent women deliver at home mostly in the hands of unskilled persons, resulting in post-delivery complications and deaths.
To mark the day, BMS with the support of UNFPA will brought out a rally at around 8am from the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital.
The ongoing Asia Regional meeting on maternal and newborn care has dedicated a session on Saturday morning for the discussion on midwifery.
In a joint statement before the day, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) executive director Babatunde Osotimehin and International Confederation of Midwives' (ICM) secretary general Agneta S. Bridges called upon countries to invest in midwifery services.
"Urgent action is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on child and maternal health before the target year of 2015, and investing in human resources for health, especially midwifery, is one of the soundest investments a country can make to accelerate progress," the joint statement read.
They praised the works of midwives in promoting good health and making childbirths safe and said midwives needed to ensure 'skilled care during deliveries.'
Over 100,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth each year across the globe while additional 8 million women suffer from serious pregnancy-related illnesses and disabilities and 2 million babies do not survive the first 24 hours after birth.
"One of the main causes for these tragedies is lack of access to maternity services, including the care of midwives or others with midwifery skills at childbirth," the statement said.
UNFPA and ICM are working to scale up efforts to strengthen midwifery training programmes and policies in 30 countries.
The UNFPA executive director during his Dhaka visit last year in Aug pledged full support to help in creating midwives in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh government has targeted to create 3,000 midwives by 2015. The National Midwifery Strategy plan is underway.
President of Bangladesh Midwifery Society (BMS) Halima Akhter has told bdnews24.com that currently 180 midwives were working at different hospitals.
"They were general nurses but later given a 6-month special midwifery training," she said.
In Bangladesh nurses having one-year midwifery training work as a general nurse and do not get international recognition as the training does not comply with the international standards and there are no separate positions for midwives.
The ICM suggested recognising midwifery as 'a distinct profession' and promoting it as a career with posts at the national level.
Halima said the upcoming midwifery strategy would address those issues.
With 194 in every 100,000 women die during childbirths each year, Bangladesh is on UN Millennium Development Goal 5 track.
But still around 70 percent women deliver at home mostly in the hands of unskilled persons, resulting in post-delivery complications and deaths.
To mark the day, BMS with the support of UNFPA will brought out a rally at around 8am from the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital.
The ongoing Asia Regional meeting on maternal and newborn care has dedicated a session on Saturday morning for the discussion on midwifery.
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