Midwives play a vital role in linking mothers and their babies to the health system and ensuring that both receive a continuum of skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth, and in the important days and weeks after birth.
Following the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) launching the Guidelines on Midwifery Services in India in December 2018, India is moving from strength to strength in consolidating vision into action. The country is working towards creating a cadre of nurse practitioners in midwifery to provide quality care services.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in consultation with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and experts developed and launched a 12-week Midwife Leadership Program (MLP) development pilot course for midwives in India on International Women’s Day on 8 March 2021.
The pilot program saw 21 participants—three each from seven states forming state trios. Each state trio comprised nominees from the state government, nursing council and professional association. The collective experience of the pool comprising a mix of mid-level professionals, senior nurses and midwives, led to the development of state specific action plans for strengthening midwifery.
Despite personal challenges, the participants unanimously decided to continue the program even during the surge in COVID-19 cases in India during the second wave of the pandemic.
The program ended on 24 June, with participation from senior officials from all three levels of WHO—headquarters, Regional Office and Country Office— UN partner agencies, multilateral donor agencies, development partners, and professional associations.
Congratulating the nurse practitioners, Dr Roderico Ofrin, WHO Representative to India wish the participants continued success in their onward journey. He reiterated the need to accelerate the creation of a midwifery workforce through systematic investments in education, service provisions and regulation.
To further foster learning and collaborations and develop partnerships, WHO also organized an India partner panel at the 32nd International Confederation of Midwives Triennial Congress 2021, one of the world’s largest gathering of midwives. The panel brought together major stakeholders, where Ms Vandana Gurnani, Additional Secretary and Mission Director, National Health Mission, reiterated the Government of India’s the commitment to the midwifery program.
The WHO Country Office for India has supported MoHFW since the inception the midwifery program and remains committed to providing technical assistance as the program unfolds.
Original article : https://www.who.int/india/news Edited as per DevNewsWorld editing guidelines Image : who.int/india
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