Press Release
For Immediate Release
Investment in midwifery can save millions of lives of women and newborns
National Workshop on Global Midwifery: “Socialization of the Results of the
International Midwifery Congress and the State of World Midwifery 2014 Report”
Jakarta, 8 September 2014 - The Indonesian Midwives Association (IBI), together with
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, today held a national workshop to locally
share the report on challenges on global midwifery services, education, regulation, and
conditions. The report released by UNFPA, in collaboration with International Confederation
of Midwives (ICM) and the World Health Organization (WHO), shows challenges in the
midwifery workforce occur in 73 African, Asian and Latin American countries where these
services are most desperately needed.
The 73 countries represented in the ‘State of the World's Midwifery 2014: A Universal
Pathway - A Woman's Right to Health’ suffer 96 per cent of the global burden of maternal
death, 91 per cent of stillbirths and 93 per cent of newborn death with only 42 per cent of the
world's midwives, nurses and doctors. Today, only 22 per cent of countries have potentially
enough adequacy competent midwives to meet the basic needs of women and newborns and
78 per cent of the countries are facing serious shortages in midwifery that will result in
unnecessary deaths of women and babies.
Midwives have a crucial role to play in the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) 4 (decrease child death) and 5 (improve maternal health). When educated to
international standards and within a fully functional health system, they can provide about 90
per cent of the essential care to women and newborns and can potentially reduce maternal
and newborn deaths by two thirds. Despite a steady decline in maternal deaths in the 73
countries that are covered in the report – dropping yearly by 3 per cent since 1990 – and
newborn deaths – decreasing by 1.9 per cent per year since 1990 – there is more these
countries need to do to address the severe shortage of midwifery care. Indonesia's goal under
MDG 5 was to bring maternal deaths to 102 per 100,000 live births by the end of 2015.
As the population grows, so does the gap in critical resources and infrastructure, unless
urgent action is taken. “Midwives have an important role to play in ensuring planned and safe
pregnancy and childbirth. Equipped with the right training and support, midwives can
potentially reduce maternal and newborn deaths by two-thirds, and provide 87 per cent of the
essential care required by women and newborns. High-quality midwifery saves lives and
contributes to healthy families and more productive communities." said Jose Ferraris,
UNFPA Representative for Indonesia.
The State of the World's Midwifery 2014 report includes recommendations to close the above
mentioned gaps and to ensure all women have access to sexual, reproductive, maternal and
newborn services and family planning. These include issues such as preventive and
supportive care from a collaborative midwifery team, and immediate access to emergency
services when needed.
"We do hope, after this workshop, a better understanding about the role of midwifery in the
health system could be achieved and encourage more stakeholders to be actively involved in
improving the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of the midwifery workforce
in Indonesia. IBI in particular will also strengthen its members to meet the national and
global standards and competencies in supporting Government’s programmes to achieve the
health MDG goals,” said Mrs. Emi Nurjasmi, the President of Indonesian Midwives
Association (IBI).
The State of the World's Midwifery 2014 report’s main objective, agreed at the 2nd Global
Midwifery Symposium held in Kuala Lumpur in May 2013, is to provide evidence based
arguments that will support policy dialogue between governments and their partners;
accelerate progress on the health MDGs; identify developments in the three years since the
2011 report was published; and inform negotiations for and preparation of the post-2015
development agenda.
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UNFPA is an international development agency committed to fulfilling the vision of a world
where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential
is fulfilled. UNFPA partners with governments, non-government organizations, and the
private sector by providing technical expertise in the areas of its mandate to address the needs
of the people of Indonesia.
Indonesian Midwives Association (Ikatan Bidan Indonesia, IBI) is the midwives professional
association founded in 1951 and has been affiliated with the ICM, International
Confederation of Midwives, since 1956. The association envisions the strengthening of
professional midwives who meet global midwifery standards in delivering quality services
to women and children.
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For more information, please contact Ms. Imma Batubara – National Programme Officer for
Reproductive Health, UNFPA Indonesia (rbatubara@unfpa.org or mobile +628129246016)