National Workshop on Global Midwifery: “Socialization of the Results of the International Midwifery Congress and the State of World Midwifery 2014 Report”

Jakarta, 8 September 2014 - The Indonesian Midwives Association (IBI), together with  UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, today held a national workshop to locally share the report on challenges on global midwifery services, education, regulation,  and conditions. The report released by UNFPA, in collaboration with International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and the World Health Organization (WHO), shows challenges in the midwifery workforce occur in 73 African, Asian and Latin American countries where these services are most desperately needed.

The 73 countries represented in the ‘State of the World's Midwifery 2014: A Universal Pathway - A Woman's Right to Health’ suffer 96 per cent of the global burden of maternal death, 91 per cent of stillbirths and 93 per cent of newborn death with only 42 per cent of the world's midwives, nurses and doctors. Today, only 22 per cent of countries have potentially enough adequacy competent midwives to meet the basic needs of women and newborns and 78 per cent of the countries are facing serious shortages in midwifery that will result in unnecessary deaths of women and babies.

Midwives have a crucial role to play in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 (decrease child death) and 5 (improve maternal health). When educated to international standards and within a fully functional health system, they can provide about 90 per cent of the essential care to women and newborns and can potentially reduce maternal and newborn deaths by two thirds. Despite a steady decline in maternal deaths in the 73 countries that are covered in the report – dropping yearly by 3 per cent since 1990 – and newborn deaths – decreasing by 1.9 per cent per year since 1990 – there is more these countries need to do to address the severe shortage of midwifery care. Indonesia's goal under  MDG 5 was to bring maternal deaths to 102 per 100,000 live births by the end of 2015.

As the population grows, so does the gap in critical resources and infrastructure, unless urgent action is taken. “Midwives have an important role to play in ensuring planned and safe pregnancy and childbirth. Equipped with the right training and support, midwives can potentially reduce maternal and newborn deaths by two-thirds, and provide 87 per cent of the essential care required by women and newborns. High-quality midwifery saves lives and contributes to healthy families and more productive communities." said Jose Ferraris, UNFPA Representative for Indonesia.

The State of the World's Midwifery 2014 report includes recommendations to close the above mentioned gaps and to ensure all women have access to sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborn services and family planning. These include issues such as preventive and supportive care from a collaborative midwifery team, and immediate access to emergency services when needed.

"We do hope, after this workshop, a better understanding about the role of midwifery in the health system could be achieved and encourage more stakeholders to be actively involved in improving the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of the midwifery workforce in Indonesia. IBI in particular will also strengthen its members to meet the national and global standards and competencies in supporting Government’s programmes to achieve the health MDG goals,” said Mrs. Emi Nurjasmi, the President of Indonesian Midwives Association (IBI).

The State of the World's Midwifery 2014 report’s main objective, agreed at the 2nd Global Midwifery Symposium held in Kuala Lumpur in May 2013, is to provide evidence based arguments that will support policy dialogue between governments and their partners; accelerate progress on the health MDGs; identify developments in the three years since the 2011 report was published; and inform negotiations for and preparation of the post-2015 development agenda.

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UNFPA is an international development agency committed to fulfilling the vision of a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA partners with governments, non-government organizations, and the private sector by providing technical expertise in the areas of its mandate to address the needs of the people of Indonesia.

Indonesian Midwives Association (Ikatan Bidan Indonesia, IBI) is the midwives professional association founded in 1951 and has been affiliated with the ICM, International Confederation of Midwives, since 1956. The association envisions  the strengthening of professional midwives  who meet  global midwifery standards in delivering quality services to women and children.

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For more information, please contact Ms. Imma Batubara – National Programme Officer for Reproductive Health, UNFPA Indonesia (rbatubara@unfpa.org or mobile +628129246016)

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