Midwives’ Voices Midwives’ Realities

Overview

This report documents the voices and experiences of 2 470 midwifery personnel who provide care to childbearing women and their newborns in 93 countries. The information was gathered through a multilingual participatory workshop combined with the largest global online survey of midwives to date. It highlights critical issues in the provision of quality midwifery care, describing the barriers experienced as well as solutions to improving care for women, newborns and their families.

The report was developed in collaboration with the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and the White Ribbon Alliance (WRA) and is part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) wider work on improving the provision of quality midwifery care to further prevent maternal and newborn deaths and disabilities. The global maternal mortality ratio has dropped by 44% over the past 25 years, from an estimated 385 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births in 1990 to 216 per 100 000 in 2015. However, in terms of actual numbers it is estimated that 303 000 women died while giving birth in 2015; 99% of these preventable maternal deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Similarly, the global neonatal mortality rate fell from 36 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990 to 19 in 2015, but 2.7 million neonatal deaths still occur each year.

The UN Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (adopted as part of the new Sustainable Development Goals for 2016–30) highlights the urgent need for further progress to be made, and for this to be based on gender responsive, equity driven and rights based approaches with increasing emphasis on quality of care.