Happy International Midwifery Day!. Midwives all around the world are celebrating and being recognized for the hard work and vital role they play in the community. According to the International Confederation of Midwifery and the United Nations Population Fund, “urgent action [needs to be taken] to address the shortage of midwives if the world is to acheive the international development goals of improving maternal health and reducing child death. The World Health Organization estimates that at least 700,000 more midwives are needed to curb maternal death and illness”
That’s a lot of midwives. So, if you were ever thinking of becoming a midwife, now would be the time (although the real challenge seems to be teaching and promoting midwifery and midwifery skills in the Third World). For what it’s worth, here in New York several of us woke up at the crack of dawn and went to stand outside the studios of the Today Show and The Early Show with matching t-shirts and banners and signs, and raised some noise about International Midwifery Day! Wooo! And a few of us even ended up on TV (though mostly the ones at the Early Show, but if you were watching this morning, I’m sure you could have caught a glimpse of smiling midwives in bright turquoise as the camera panned through the crowd). It was fun. Though very early.
And now, to break the monotany of constant studying, I’m off to meet Melissa from A Womb of Her Own, who just so happens to be visiting New York City this weekend from her hometown of Toronto. Forging international bonds of friendship between student midwives on International Midwifery day, no less—go us!
