UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, has reiterated its commitment to assist midwives in enhancing their life saving skills as it marked the observance of the International Day of the Midwife and the celebration of Mother’s Day this year.

“Midwives are the unsung heroes of the safe motherhood challenge because of their essential role in achieving the Millennium Development Goals to reduce maternal and newborn mortality. In all countries that have achieved dramatic improvements in maternal mortality, professionally trained midwives with doctors have been one of the keys to success,” said UNFPA Representative Suneeta Mukherjee.

Organized by the Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines (IMAP) and attended by officials from the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS), Department of Health (DOH), Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and other midwives’ associations. Former Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez Jr. and UNFPA Maternal Health Advisor for Asia Pacific Saramma Mathai were the resource persons.

The UNFPA pointed out that up to 80 per cent of maternal deaths can be averted if midwives are skilled and are authorized to practice their competencies with strong linkages to higher referral facilities. They have a critical role in providing family planning counselling and services, and sexually transmitted infections and HIV transmissions from mother to child.

In the Philippines, 11 mothers die daily as a result of pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. They are considered as unnecessary deaths because the major direct causes – hypertension, hemorrhage, infection, obstructed labor, and complications of abortion – are mostly preventable.

Most maternal deaths occur during labor, delivery and the immediate postpartum period indicating that proper care during these stages are critical. The risk to newborns is closely linked to the health condition of the mother.

However, training of midwives is inadequate and the profession of midwifery often garners little recognition, meager income, and limited career opportunities. These factors contribute to the acute shortage of these valuable health workers.

The country has a total of 41,841 barangays but there are only around 17,500 midwives in the public health sector. Most of them are overburdened with other tasks, underpaid and not equitably distributed.