International Day of the Midwife

Midwives: Defenders of Women's Rights #IDM2019 

International Day of the Midwife

On 5th May each year, women, girls, midwives, partners and supporters of midwives join together to celebrate International Day of the Midwife. It is a chance to thank and celebrate midwives all around the world, and the fantastic work they do to fight, protect and defend women, girls and midwives’ rights. In 2019, the theme of the day is Midwives: Defenders of Women's Rights.

Midwives play a vital role; the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) states that ‘midwives are skilled to provide the vast majority (> 85%) of pregnancy-related services. This makes them the ideal healthcare provider to support women through the maternity continuum of care, and their role should be supported, protected and advocated for in all settings.

The Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health at LSTM works for and with midwives in many low- and middle-income countries to improve the availability and quality of care for mothers and babies. CMNH conducts implementation research to discover what works, how and why to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality, and delivers capacity-building interventions to build the skills and knowledge of healthcare providers, including midwives, globally.

This year, CMNH is celebrating International Day of the Midwife via postcards from our fantastic colleagues, partners and volunteer midwives globally, a series of blogs, a seminar sharing our work on quality of care and an event held at LSTM on Wed 8th May. Below is an overview of all of this and more about our work.

Join us in celebrating this year’s Day of the Midwife by sharing our blogs, postcards and seminar with your colleagues and networks, and get in touch with us via email or Twitter.

Postcards from our network of midwives

  • Hannah McCauley, Senior research Associate

  • Ms Sujata Sawant

  • Bukola Oyedeji

  • Rita Momoh

  • Patricia Komolafe

  • Eunice Akhigbe

  • Seema Kukade

  • Ms Premlata Dube

  • Ms Pushpawati Kalkote

  • Maimuna Mulani

  • Odjeke Kassindéyem Victorine

  • Yindaya Constance

  • Alison Perry

  • Kadir Aminat Titi

  • Dada Damilola Boluwatife

  • Rasheedat Adejumoke Badrudeen

  • Adoga Victoria Iyabo

  • Amuda Baba

  • Beate Ringwald

  • Deborah Barker

  • Olive Kilembe

  • Kirsty Lowe

  • Florence Mgawadere

Latest blogs from CMNH

Latest CMNH seminar: Uncovering quality of maternal and newborn care: numbers and voices from three studies in sub-Saharan Africa

Dr Mamuda Aminu, Fiona Dickinson and Dr Florence Mgawadere from CMNH at LSTM present their research on Quality of Care in sub-Saharan Africa.

Each reported on a study which highlights a different perspective on the quality of maternal and newborn healthcare, they will share findings from the viewpoint of researchers, women and healthcare providers focussed on quality of care around time of birth, using data collected in healthcare facilities in Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe.