A new global collaboration is aiming to spread information on best practice, in order to improve midwifery services around the world.
The collaboration, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, brings together 35 researchers from many countries, united in their hope to support midwives and cut maternal, newborn and infant deaths.
Leading the project is Professor Mary Renfrew of York University, UK.
"The goal of this historic effort is to increase the evidence available to guide decision-making on midwifery, and to promote action on developing midwifery services at scale, thereby improving the health of mothers, newborns and infants," she said.
Evidence will be collated by a team of experts including analysts, epidemiologists, demographers, statisticians, health economists and specialist midwifery researchers.
"Our work will have an impact on country level action, budget decisions and health system development," believes Dr Luc de Bernis of the United Nations Population Fund.
"Policy guidance, based on the evidence generated by the series, will improve the quality and coverage of midwifery services as well as increase the access to, and uptake of, these services," he added.
A special series on midwifery will be published by the Lancet in May/June 2013, coordinated by Petra ten Hoope-Bender of the Instituto de Cooperacion Social Integrare in Barcelona, Spain.
She said: "Strengthening midwifery provides a proven return on investment that yields high quality care, reduces maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality, and improves population and economic outcomes, rather than a quick-fix solution that only addresses part of the continuum of care."
The initiative supports the UN Secretary-General’s "Every Woman, Every Child" campaign and three of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Leave a Reply