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.