International Day of the Midwife celebrated in Dhaka

Bangladesh has celebrated the International Day of the Midwife, highlighting the contribution of the profession to maternal and newborn health.

The day with the theme ‘women and newborns: the heart of midwifery’ was observed on Thursday, the last day of the three-day national conference on sexual and reproductive health and rights held at Bangla Academy premises.

The celebration also included the award giving ceremony of the“Midwives4all Award” for this year.

The award is a part of the “Midwives4all” campaign that the Swedish Ministry for Foreign affairs and the International Confederation of Midwives launched in 2015.

The aim of the campaign is to increase the number of midwives and recognize individual efforts around the globe.

The Swedish Ministry for Foreign affairs in cooperation with the International Confederation of Midwives and the Bangladesh Directorate of Nursing Services nominated Jesmin Akhter of Bangladesh for the ‘Midwives4all Award 2016’.

In a statement, they said Akhter is a “dedicated midwife committed to improve the midwifery profession in Bangladesh”.

She has a long experience in the field of clinical midwifery at district level and is involved in midwifery education at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.

She is now working at the Directorate of Nursing Services providing support at the national level to establish and strengthen the midwifery services and education in Bangladesh.

Additional Secretary for Health Biman Kumar Shaha said the government was working “relentlessly” to promote midwifery in Bangladesh.

It was also investing more money in educating young women in the profession and deploying midwives all across the country, he added.

Bangladesh Nursing Institute Director Nilofar Ahmed, UNFPA Country Representative Argentina Matavel Piccin, and Swedish ambassador Johan Frisell expressed their support for the cause.

Piccin said that midwifery is “ancient and most noble profession” and urged the young students to be respectful of their profession and to commit to helping every woman and child that they attend.

Frisell said maternal mortality could be reduced by 87 percent if women had access to comprehensive midwifery and family planning services.

“Providing midwifery education and midwifery deployment to the communities could yield a 16th fold return on investment in terms of lives saved and avoiding costs of caesarean sections.”

UNFPA Special Adviser Dr ABM Musa presented the draft ‘Midwifery Care Model’.