World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) hosted a policy dialogue on the State of the World’s Midwifery (SoWMy) 2021 report on 18 May 2021. The report addresses the health workforce required to meet the needs of women, newborns and adolescents everywhere.
The dialogue was opened by the heads of the three lead agencies -- WHO, UNFPA, and ICM. WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in his opening speech highlighted the role of midwives in sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (SRMNCAH) service provisions and underlined the need to discuss the future of midwifery at global level.
A wide range of panelists, including ministers of health, key partner organizations, midwives and other health care providers presented the key findings and policy messages from SoWMy 2021 and discussed what the implementation of the country recommendations would mean for sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health.
Dr Nipun Vinayak, Joint Secretary (nursing) in Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) represented the Government of India (GoI) on behalf of honorable Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and shared the country’s commitment to establishing midwifery education of global standards.
He said India is on track to increase investments in the areas highlighted by the new SoWMY 2021 report and shared the steps taken by GoI to support midwifery education, development of midwives-led care units, launch of midwifery leadership programs, and increased investments in health workforce creation.
The global policy dialogue highlighted the strategic priorities from the report that can increase access to fully functional health services and quality midwifery care to improve the health outcomes for women, newborn and families.
The key contributions and capacity of midwives to provide quality, evidence-based SRMNAH services were also shared. This evidence will directly inform the development of the new Global Strategic Direction for Nursing and Midwifery 2021-2025.
Original article : https://www.who.int/india/news Edited as per DevNewsWorld editing guidelines Image : https://thewire.in
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