Every day around the world there are many women that travel to remote villages, through crowded urban centres and across rivers to provide lifesaving care and support to mothers, children, and families – these women are called midwives.
On this year’s ‘International Day of the Midwife’ we say thank you to these unsung heroes. Thank you to all the incredible midwives for the amazing work you all do!
Our Mother and Baby Programme in Malawi, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe continues to show families easy ways of ensuring mothers and babies stay healthy.
St John volunteers not only make door-to-door visits to help families develop a birth plan, teach them about danger signs and provide advice on what to do in an emergency. They also make health referrals for individuals to visit a midwife at their local clinic or hospital. It is through these referrals that many women get to see a midwife for the first time during their pregnancies.
Charity, is a midwife at the Kayosha Maternity Clinic, in Zambia, where many mothers from the Mother and Baby Programme are referred to.
Working as a midwife, is not only a job to me but a calling in life.
The mother of two lives in Zambia and has worked as a midwife for 32 years. She travels 5 hours to work to take care of up to 60 women a day at the maternity clinic.
Working as a midwife is like a roller coaster ride. It can be exciting, rewarding, demanding and draining all at once. As a midwife, you can experience several highs and several lows in one day as you attend to successful pregnancies and deliveries and also deal with those that do not end on such a happy note. It’s all in a day’s work for a midwife.
We at St John, send a big thank you to all the amazing midwives around the world for their daily commitment which helps to make the world a safer and healthier place for mothers and babies.
