Remember: Midwives leading the way
ON Saturday the International Day of the Midwife was celebrated under the theme “Midwives leading the way with quality care”.
The theme, according to the International Confederation of Midwives, coincides with the three strategic directions of the confederation established for 2017-2020 — quality, equity and leadership.
The confederation said that midwives leading the way with quality care is significant in highlighting the vital role that midwives play not only in ensuring women navigate pregnancy and childbirth safely, but also receive respectful and well-resourced maternity care that can create a lifetime of good health and well-being beyond the childbirth continuum.
For Jamaica, it is particularly important that we acknowledge the importance of midwives in order to improve our maternal, neonatal and infant health; and achieve our 2030 target of reducing the maternal mortality rate to fewer than 70 per cent per 100,000 live births.
Remember, in order to improve the outcome of women in maternity care, we have to ensure that the care providers are empowered and equipped to provide the best care.