Making Midwives’ Voices Heard

By Kiran Ramchandani, White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood Midwives save lives. Yet, two-thirds of women in the poorest, least developed countries give birth without a skilled birth attendant. Only when we have enough skilled midwives will we stop the needless deaths in childbirth of girls and women across Africa and Asia. The midwife has an important role to play, not just in ensuring a safe birth but also after the birth to support the mother in looking after her new baby, and advising on birth spacing and family planning. But in order for midwives to offer that much needed support to women and to deliver high quality care, they themselves need the right support and training. Tales of the poor treatment and neglect of women in health facilities are all too common. They are often linked to low staff morale, inadequate staffing levels and lack of training. This means that even when care is available, the quality can be so poor that women receive little benefit. It also prevents women from seeking help when they really need it. To raise awareness of the issue, White Ribbon Alliance Tanzania convened a group of midwives to make a film to highlight their working conditions; ‘What I Want is Simple’.

This short film features midwives such as Christine James Mwandalima, who asks, “Is it too much to ask to have a clean toilet that actually works, or a salary that allows me to feed my family?” White Ribbon Alliance is pushing for respectful maternity care to be recognised as a human right worldwide. And it is midwives themselves who are at the forefront of this rapidly growing campaign, as the most powerful agents of the change they seek.