International Day of the Midwife

International Day of the Midwife is an annual observance that celebrates midwives and their role in saving thousands of women and infants’ lives during childbirth.

Official date: May 5

Key focus areas

• Recognize midwives’ humanitarian efforts in saving women’s lives globally.
• Stress the need to provide midwives with adequate medical tools and medications globally, especially in developing countries that have poor healthcare systems.
• Commend midwives’ endeavors to improve health-related services to women.
• Promote the need to increase investment in the midwifery sector.
• Call for safer occupational safety and better wages for midwives worldwide.
• Improve the quality of services provided to women and newborns.
• Emphasize women’s right to have access to midwifery services globally.

Key facts:

• Globally, 1000 women pass away daily during childbirth due to insufficient medical care, especially in developing countries.
• Professionally trained midwives could help avoid thousands of maternal and newborn deaths.
• Currently, there is a need for 350,000 professionally trained midwives worldwide.
• Investing in training midwives could save 4.3 million lives every year.
• 128,000 midwives are needed in the Arab countries.