When crises strike and systems break down, midwives step up.
Midwives are often the first – and only – responders delivering life-saving care to pregnant women and their newborns during a crisis, reaching them in the most dangerous or remote areas.
Crises do not stop births. They do not pause the need for contraception, prenatal checkups or emergency obstetric care. On the contrary, crises intensify these needs and underscore the critical role of midwives.
Women are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth in crisis settings because access to quality sexual and reproductive health services is impeded. Yet midwives continue to serve with limited resources and extraordinary courage.
This year’s International Day of the Midwife theme, "Midwives: Critical in every crisis," honours midwives as a cornerstone of emergency response.
Yet even as they deliver for others, midwives are too often left behind. A global shortage of nearly 1 million midwives persists, and now drastic cuts to humanitarian funding and development assistance will cause this gap to widen. Insufficient infrastructure, low salaries, inadequate supplies and threats to personal safety are longstanding barriers.
To address these new and continuing challenges, UNFPA, in collaboration with the International Confederation of Midwives, UNICEF, Jhpiego, the World Health Organization and other global partners, has launched a Midwifery Accelerator to strengthen education, leadership and deployment across more than 125 countries.
The facts are clear: Midwives can deliver 90 per cent of essential sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborn health services, including in humanitarian settings. Achieving universal coverage of care provided by midwives could save over 4.3 million lives each year by 2035.
Building a better future for women in crises begins with supporting midwives, wherever and whenever they are needed most.
