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In labour market policy and planning, it is important to understand the motivations of people to
continue in their current job or to seek other employment. Over the last decade, besides the increasingly medical
approach to pregnancy and childbirth and decreasing home births, there were additional dramatic changes and
pressures on primary care midwives and midwifery care. Therefore, it is important to re-evaluate the career plans
of primary care midwives and their intentions to leave their current job. [from abstract]

To review the strength and weakness of a community based skilled birth attendant (CSBA) program in Bangladesh. [from abstract]

The State of the World’s Midwifery (SoWMy) 2014 presents findings on midwifery from 73 low and middle- income countries. [from introduction]

A team-building approach was taken to engage the maternity ward in reviewing current practices, and identifying activities to strengthen midwifery services. [from introduction] Story is near bottom of page.

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of serving physicians and midwives on the quantity and quality of family planning services in the healthcare centers of Iran. [from abstract]

This paper analyses the importance of the services rendered by traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to pregnantwomen in Zimbabwe.It argues that, though an integral part of the health system, the ambivalence in terms of policy on the part of the government leaves them in a predicament. [from abstract]

This report is a compilation of summary activities carried out by WHO and its partners between 2008 and 2012. It demonstrates a collaborative effort rallying around the Strategic Directions for Strengthening Nursing and Midwifery which is the operational framework developed by WHO since 2002. The report also offers some practical recommendations within the framework of primary health care. [from publisher]

This publication presents 6 case studies on interprofessional education and collaborative practice from Brazil, Canada, India, South Africa and the USA. The document also highlights some barriers and enablers to take into account for implementation. [from publisher]

Enacting appropriate changes in both regulation and education of nurses requires engagement of national regulatory bodies, and key stakeholders such as government chief nursing officers, professional associations, and educators. The purpose of this research is to describe the perspectives and engagement of these stakeholders in advancing critical regulatory and educational reform in east, central, and southern Africa. [adapted from abstract]

The White Ribbon Alliance in Tanzania have produced this short, 4 minute film to improve the public perception of midwives and mobilize support for advocacy targeting improvements in the working conditions of midwives. [from publisher]

This 5 minute video tells the story of Claire, a midwife from Harlow, who visited the slums of Delhi and rural clinics in Rajasthan to see what life is like for her Indian colleagues and saw the difference that innovative projects and passionate staff can make for mothers and babies. [adapted from publisher]

The infant and maternal mortality rates in the mountainous regions of northern Vietnam are 10 times higher than the national average. This 25 minute film tells the story of a Hmong ethnic minority midwife who has been trained to provide maternal care to her community in the isolated Chi Ca commune. [from publisher]

The objective of this article was to identify factors that have contributed to the systematic development of the Cambodian human resources for health system with a focus on midwifery services in response to high maternal mortality in fragile resource-constrained countries. [from abstract]

The aim of this study was to describe the weaknesses in the provision of acceptable and adequate quality care through the accounts of women who have suffered obstetric fistula, nurse-midwives at both BEmOC and CEmOC health facilities and local community members. [from abstract]

This document includes evidence-based examples of value-added nursing interventions to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and reduce the associated risk factors. It also proposes methods for implementing changes in education and clinical practice to strengthen nurses and midwives’ capacity to help prevent, screen and detect NCDs, and then treat and rehabilitate those suffering such diseases. [adapted from summary]

This article describes the evolution and challenges of mHealth and addresses the potential impact of mHealth for midwives. Midwifery leadership in the field of mHealth at this early stage of its development will ensure future health programming that is relevant to the needs of women and the midwives who care for them. [adapted from abstract]

This 3 minute video discusses the improvement in maternal mortality rates due to the training and incentive programs that have increased the number of midwives to provide maternal care.

Maternity care providers, particularly midwives, have a window of opportunity to influence pregnant women about positive health choices. This aim of this paper is to identify evidence of effective public health interventions from good quality systematic reviews that could be conducted by midwives. [from abstract]

To address its high maternal mortality rate, in particular the inequities in access to maternal health care services, the government of Pakistan created a new cadre of community-based midwives. This study is designed to address a critical gap in our knowledge about whether this cadre of workers, operating in the private health care context, will meet the expectation to provide care to the poorest and most marginalized women. [adapted from author]

Prepared as a background document for “The State of the World’s Midwifery 2011,” this paper focuses on three overarching aspects essential to midwifery workforce management: managing entry to the workforce, managing stay in the workforce, and managing exit from the workforce. [adapted from author]

Areas of the Vietnam still experience severe shortages of health workers for reproductive health, particularly mountainous and other remote areas populated by ethnic minorities. This case study evaluates a program to lower maternal mortality rates and encourage healthier births in these areas through an 18 month training for ethic minority midwives. [adapted from author]

This study evaluates the Midwives Service Scheme in Nigeria which engaged newly graduated, unemployed, and retired midwives to work temporarily in rural areas to improve the wide variation between maternal, newborn, and child health indices across geopolitical zones and between urban and rural areas, mostly due to variations in the availability of skilled attendance at birth. [adapted from author]

This study aimed to assess whether the use of cell phone text messaging to improve access to continuing healthcare education in under-resourced settings is acceptable to South African midwives in both the public and private sectors. [adapted from author]

This paper describes the research design and methodology of the multicenter, multidisciplinary study evaluating the quality and provision of primary midwifery care. [adapted from abstract]

This background paper for “The State of the World’s Midwifery 2011” provides detailed information on the midwife cadre in Bangladesh, its role in the health system, training and the state of the field.

This paper presents data on the views of midwives from one maternity unit in England following the introduction of an organisation wide quality improvement initiative to improve in-patient postnatal care and processes to transfer women home. As quality improvement initiatives are highly influenced by the context into which they are introduced and by the processes of implementation, our findings may support others to address how clinician engagement could be enhanced. [adapted from author]

The explicit need to focus on quality of care underpins the aim of this study to evaluate the safety culture and teamwork climate in the public maternity units of the 5 regional hospitals in Cyprus as measured by a validated safety attitudes tool. [from abstract]

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that two training programs for midwives in Zambia would reduce incrementally 7-day neonatal mortality rates for low-risk institutional deliveries. [adapted from abstract]

A task analysis survey of health workers in Liberia was conducted to determine how often recently graduated health workers perform tasks from the basic package of health services, and whether training was received for these tasks either in school or on the job. This paper focuses on nurse and midwife cadres and describe the: implementation of the study in Liberia; key findings and analysis of select clinical tasks; and recommendations for improving and integrating educational programs. [adapted from abstract]

This report draws attention to the worldwide midwifery shortage, because midwives are vital for communities and families, and for improving a country’s health, particularly in areas with high maternal and child mortality. Midwives are the key to achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on child and maternal mortality. [adapted from foreword]