{"id":4779,"date":"2015-05-05T15:43:33","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T15:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/?p=4779"},"modified":"2018-04-22T12:10:09","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T16:10:09","slug":"midwives-could-help-avert-millions-of-maternal-and-newborn-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/blog\/2015\/05\/midwives-could-help-avert-millions-of-maternal-and-newborn-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Midwives could help avert millions of maternal and newborn deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI have seen more and more women with child-delivery problems suffer needlessly,\u201d said midwife Florence Djihoun, 48, at her UNFPA-supported clinic in Cotonou, Benin.<\/p>\n

\"Benin\"<\/a>Globally, complications of pregnancy or childbirth kill a woman about every two minutes<\/a>. The majority of these deaths are completely preventable \u2013 and the remedies are well known. It is estimated, for instance, that well-trained midwives<\/a> could help avert two thirds<\/a> of all maternal and newborn deaths.<\/p>\n

On 5 May, UNFPA commemorates the International Day of the Midwife<\/a>, calling attention to the need for more of these life-saving health professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvidence shows that midwives who are educated and regulated to international standards can provide 87 per cent of the essential care needed by women and their newborns,\u201d UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin said in a statement<\/a> marking the day.<\/p>\n

\"Midwife<\/a>

Midwife Florence Djihoun offers family planning counselling to a woman in Cotonou. The woman, who is 25 years old with two children, says she and her husband are currently unemployed, so they want to wait before having more children. With Ms. Djihoun’s help, she has selected a contraceptive option that works best for her. \u00a9 UNFPA\/Ollivier<\/p><\/div>\n

Enormous impact<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maternal mortality remains a critical problem in Benin. The lifetime risk that a woman will die from causes related to pregnancy or childbirth is one in 59, according to the most recent figures<\/a>. Yet Benin has only about 940 midwives to attend to more than half a million births per year, the 2014 State of the World\u2019s Midwifery<\/a> report says.<\/p>\n

Despite their small numbers, midwives in Benin are having an enormous impact. In her 26 years as a midwife, Ms. Djihoun has helped thousands of women, she estimates.<\/p>\n

She provides much more than safe delivery services. She also offers antenatal care, post-natal check-ups and newborn care, and she helps women access voluntary family planning<\/a>, which allows women to space their births and improve their health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of maternal deaths because of too-close pregnancies. So I thought I should dedicate myself to helping them,\u201d Ms. Djihoun said.<\/p>\n

Better care<\/strong><\/p>\n

Midwifery care and emergency obstetric services are saving many lives at the Aplahoue Zonal Hospital, some 150 km west of Cotonou, said Mastoratou Akanbi, a nurse and midwife at the hospital.<\/p>\n

UNFPA supports midwifery training at the Aplahoue hospital, and also supplies contraceptives and other life-saving commodities through its Global Programme on Reproductive Health Commodity Security<\/a>. Improved services \u2013 including an operating theatre for emergency Caesarean sections \u2013 are reducing maternal mortality and improving rates of institutional delivery.<\/p>\n

The hospital now delivers about 110 babies every month, much better than before, Ms. Akanbi said.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Midwife<\/a>

Midwife Leocadie Kotchoga performs a sonogram on a 31-year-old pregnant woman at the Cooperative Clinic of Sikecoudji, in Cotonou. \u00a9 UNFPA\/Ollivier Girard<\/p><\/div>\n

Counselling, commitment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Counselling is an important part of the job, Ms. Akanbi emphasized. She offers health counselling to women, and sometimes to men as well.<\/p>\n

Her patients learn the importance of antenatal care, proper nutrition, and delivering under the care of a skilled birth attendant such as a midwife. They also learn the health benefits of family planning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tell the women to rest after giving birth and to do family planning, to space their children, and vaccinate them. We encourage their husbands, too, to space their children,\u201d Ms. Akanbi said.<\/p>\n

Just as important, said Leocadie Kotchoga, is a midwife\u2019s commitment. She has been a midwife for 23 years, and is now working at a UNFPA-supported clinic in Cotonou.<\/p>\n

She says relatives pressure her to quit her job in favour of higher-paid positions elsewhere. She turns them down every time, saying, \u201cThis is what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is not driven by money but by love for her work. \u201cIf not, I won\u2019t be doing it,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat is worth doing is worth doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Paul Okolo<\/p>\n

via United Nations Population Fund<\/a>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI have seen more and more women with child-delivery problems suffer needlessly,\u201d said midwife Florence Djihoun, 48, at her UNFPA-supported clinic in Cotonou, Benin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gender-equality","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}