World Health Organization recommends 784 midwives for C’River state

Determined to reduce maternal mortality rate in Cross River state, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the employment, training and posting of 784 midwives to all the 18 local government areas of the state. This, the organization said, was aimed at meeting recommended standard of four midwives per each of the 196 wards in the state.

Speaking at the occasion to mark the 2017 International Day of the Midwives in Calabar, Head of Office of global organization in Cross River state, Dr. Edmond Egbe, said that, WHO and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) are the key partners and very committed in strengthening healthcare delivery in the state.

Dr. Egbe maintained that the organisation has supported two functioning schools of Midwifery with two buses and other needful and stressed the need for full accreditation for the remaining Schools of Nursing and Midwifery in the state.

Also speaking, the Executive Director of UNFPA, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, who was represented by the Head of Office in the state, Dr. Kenneth Ehouzou, lamented women’s lack of access to the services of midwives which resulted in more than 300,000 women dying during pregnancy and childbirth each year, while three million babies don’t survive the first month of life, and another two and a half million babies are stillborn.

Dr. Osotimehin said, “UNFPA has since 2009 worked with partners to support over 600 Midwifery Schools, educating more than 80 000 Midwives. We have also strengthened national midwifery associations in 75 countries and helped enhance the regulatory framework for midwifery practice to ensure accountability.”

“To achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, we need to expand midwifery programmes, therefore I urge all governments and development partners to join UNFPA in supporting Midwives so more women survive, and their families and communities thrive,” he stated.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. (Mrs) Inyang Asibong, expressed regretted toward lack of midwives in the state explaining that in some local government areas, such as in Biase, Boki, they was a humongous gap before now but as the state commences the recruitment of Midwives, that gap will gradually be closed up.

She said about 600 Midwives retired yearly and the schools of Midwifery is not functioning well to produce the capacity to bridge that gap, but they are advocating for adequacy to replace that. Consequently, the Director General Cross River State Primary Health Care Development Agency Dr. (Mrs) Betta Edu said the state governor, Prof Ben Ayade, is committed to bringing in midwives on board.

“He has given approval for the employment of midwives to fill our facilities across the state. The employment is going to be done for people who reside in various LGAs, we don’t want someone who resides in Calabar going to work in Yala.”

The DG said, the Primary Health Care Agency has 53 midwives on ground, but what the agency needs is at least 400 Midwives in the entire state to deliver quality healthcare services adding that the Agency has a policy, which is the one PHC per ward; therefore they need at least 2 Midwives in every one PHC per ward, “We have 196 wards, so we want 2 Midwives in each of these wards.”