UN: Global Shortage of Nearly 1 Million Midwives Will Cost Lives

UN: Global Shortage of Nearly 1 Million Midwives Will Cost Lives

A new report from the United Nations raises the alarm on the number of midwives, warning that millions of lives could be saved if the shortfall were addressed.

The acute shortage of 900,000 midwives represents a third of the required global midwifery workforce, says a study carried out jointly by the UN Population Fund, the World Health Organization and the International Confederation of Midwives. And as a result of this deficit, the lives of millions of women and newborn babies are at risk.

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"The Covid-19 crisis has only exacerbated these problems, with the health needs of women and newborns being overshadowed, midwifery services being disrupted and midwives being deployed to other health services," said a UN statement about the study covering 194 countries.

An analysis conducted for this report, published in the Lancet last December, showed that fully resourcing midwife-delivered care by 2035 could avert 67 per cent of maternal deaths, 64 per cent of newborn deaths and 65 per cent of stillbirths, saving an estimated 4.3 million lives per year
 




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