Midwives around the world celebrate the 'International Day of the Midwife' on May 5th every year. The aim of the day is to celebrate midwifery and to bring awareness of the importance of midwives' work to as many people around the world as possible.
The recurrent ICM theme for 2010 is 'the world needs midwives now more than ever.' This theme was created in 2009 in response to a need to increase Midwife numbers around the world to achieve WHO Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. In total 350,000 more midwives are needed by 2015 in order to:
- Improve Maternal Health;
- Reduce Child Mortality; and
- Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases.
Achieving the Millennium Development Goals requires a global, national and local commitment to grow a strong, well-educated midwifery workforce within functioning health service delivery systems.
Although the Millennium Development Goals seek to enable improvements in health for the most disadvantaged people in the world - people who do not usually come into the care of independent midwives in Australia - these goals are as important in middle class Melbourne as they are in the slums of the world's poorest countries.
Australian independent midwives promote health for mothers, babies and families. Our statistical data demonstrate excellent outcomes for mothers and babies in our care.
More information, and items to help with local celebrations can be got from the College of Midwives.
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