5th May 2015 - Celebrating Midwives & Marking 25 Years of Midwifery as a Profession

May 5 is the International Day of the Midwife, a time to celebrate midwives’ contribution to the health, well-being and survival of women and their babies around the world.

Karen Guilliland, Chief Executive of the New Zealand College of Midwives, notes also that 2015 marks 25 years since the passing of the Nurses Amendment Act in 1990 when autonomous midwifery practice was reinstated and midwifery was separated from nursing as a distinct profession.

“As a result of these changes, New Zealand women have a system which enables most of them to access a midwife who they know for the whole of their maternity experience,” she says. “Significantly the last 25 years have seen a steady improvement in maternal and baby outcomes so that New Zealand is now in fact “world leading” in maternity care and the outcomes for women and their babies.”

Karen Guilliland notes the Ministry of Health report on maternity care – Report on Maternity 2012 – http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/report-maternity-2012 which was released mid last month and confirms the robustness of the midwifery-led maternity system in New Zealand, as well as the high quality of care New Zealand women receive during their pregnancy and birth.

The New Zealand College of Midwives also notes that 2015 marks the target year for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce maternal and baby mortality; however, not all countries have enough midwives to provide the level of maternity care that enables improved outcomes.

The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) has set this year’s theme as Midwives: for a better tomorrow, which focuses on working towards a world where every woman has access to, and can benefit from, a midwife’s care.

“As highly specialised health professionals, midwives are the main maternity providers, working in partnership with women to provide continuity of care through pregnancy, labour and birth and during the early postnatal weeks. This partnership approach with Women by LMC and hospital midwives together has resulted in safe and effective women-centred care that all women should be entitled to worldwide,” says Karen Guilliland.

May 5th offers women and midwives the opportunity to come together regionally and nationally to celebrate the maternity service we have in New Zealand and to acknowledge those who have contributed to the provision of an internationally esteemed service.

As part of this, the New Zealand College of Midwives has short video clips of women sharing what they love about their midwives and of midwives sharing what they love about their role at http://www.midwife.org.nz/resources-events/international-day-of-the-midwife-2015

Please note that the College’s ten regional committees are using their numerous and varied International Midwives Day celebration events  to fundraise for the midwives and women caught in the Vanuatu and Nepal natural disasters. The regions and contacts in those regions can be found here http://www.midwife.org.nz/home/in-your-region