Thank you for joining us at our IDM Virtual Party!

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week, Wednesday (5th May), as we celebrated International Day of the Midwife with five IDM Virtual Parties (three in English, one in Spanish and one in French). Each party was hosted by various ICM Board Members and attended by members of the ICM Head Office team and midwives from various ICM member associations from across the globe. 

Each IDM event was unique, but one key theme was that neither time nor distance can separate the unity of midwives and the unique atmosphere that we create when we gather as a collective. Thank you to all the midwives who volunteered to speak at our IDM celebrations and responded to the statement: "midwives matter because...". The answers were incredible — some made us laugh, others made us shed a tear, but every answer reminded us why we became a midwife and why midwives matter.  

If you could not attend one of the parties, the above video is an IDM message to our members from our President, Dr. Franka Cadée, that featured at each party (subtitles are available in English, French & Spanish).  

This year’s International Day of the Midwife coincided with the launch of The State of the World's Midwifery 2021 (SoWMy), co-led by ICM, UNFPA and WHO. The SoWMy 2021report builds on previous reports in the SoWMy series and represents an unprecedented effort to document the whole world’s Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Adolescent Health (SRMNAH) workforce, with a particular focus on midwives.  

The world is currently facing a shortage of 900,000 midwives, representing a third of the required global midwifery workforce. The pandemic has only exacerbated this crisis as governments across the world battle COVID-19 and its impacts. Essential maternal and newborn health services have been deprioritised, resulting in funding and personnel transferred away from essential services, depleting resources for critical maternal and reproductive services. The Impact of Midwives report conducted for SoWMy, shows that fully resourcing midwife-delivered care by 2035 could avert 67 per cent of maternal deaths, 64 per cent of newborn deaths, and 65 per cent of stillbirths. It could save an estimated 4.3 million lives per year. 

The SoWMy 2021 report calls for urgent investment in midwives to enable us to fulfil our potential to contribute towards universal health care and the Sustainable Development Goal agenda. 

We'll continue the dialogue around SoWMy 2021 and the urgent need for greater investment in midwives at our upcoming Virtual Triennial Congress, taking place every Wednesday in June.  

The preliminary programme is already published and promises to be a virtual experience unlike any other! The Congress programme is designed to accommodate several time zones. 

See the Programme at a glance to convert to your time zone >> 

Not able to attend live? 
Remember that the recordings will be available to all those registered for two months after the Congress completes.  

More than ever, midwives and their life-saving work are being acknowledged in media stories and at global events and conferences. This is a small but notable step toward a world where midwives are well-resourced, adequately compensated and the decision-makers of their own profession. 

We are taking this plenary session to analyse and understand that growing momentum. This panel discussion will feature renowned journalists who’ve devoted their careers to covering maternal health and sexual and reproductive health issues. It will explore prominent industry stories from the past year and consider how storytelling can be used as a vehicle for change and policy reform. 

Stay tuned for more information on our panelists.  

Are you ready for VTC? Share on social>> 

It is time we share our stories. It’s time we empower ourselves to advocate.