Overview
The “Midwives voices, midwives realities report 2016” documents the voices and realities of 2470 midwifery personnel in 93 countries and describes, from their perspective, the barriers they experience to providing quality, respectful care for women, newborns and their families. The findings highlight that hierarchies of power and gender discrimination hinder progress, but also demonstrate the great potential for improvements in quality of care when the voices of midwives are heard.
Joint publishers of the report
Background
The 2011 landmark “State of the world’s midwifery report” (SOWMy) provided the data indicating that there is a global shortage of health workers with the skills to provide midwifery care. By the time of the 2014 SOWMy Report it was estimated that only 4 of the 73 countries had invested in educating midwifery personnel with the skills needed.
Key related publications
- State of the World’s Midwifery Report 2014, 2011
- The Lancet Series on midwifery
- Standards for improving quality of maternal and newborn care in health facilities
- What Prevents Quality Midwifery Care? A Systematic Mapping of Barriers in Low and Middle Income Countries from the Provider Perspective
PLOS Medicine - Asking different questions: research priorities to improve the quality of care for every woman, every child