Midwifery is one of the oldest healthcare professions in the world.
Unfortunately, it is not seen as among the most prestigious in the healthcare fraternity.
On Friday, Kenya joined the world in celebrating International Day of the Midwife.
In Kenya, midwives face a myriad of challenges while at the forefront of bringing forth life and providing respectful and dignified maternal health services.
Angela Nguku, the founder and director of the White Ribbon Alliance, describes midwifery as one of the most underserved in healthcare.
“Despite the life-affirming role that midwives play in preventing newborn, maternal deaths and stillbirths, they remain among the least paid professionals in healthcare,” she said.
She asked that midwives get equal pay which reflects work done as well as timely and adequate remuneration that reflects their professional skills and experience.
In 2021, the White Ribbon Alliance, a maternal and newborn health advocacy organisation, released a report called What Midwives Want.
Maureen Ndonyo, a midwife from Kakamega County, was among the practitioners highlighting what they needed in the industry.
She said that dilapidated facilities and a crippled referral system for patients makes their work difficult.
“You may find that a referral hospital is called at 9 am and a patient needs to be taken there immediately to save her life and that of her child.
"The patient arrives at 6 pm when it is too late to do anything for the patient and the hospital will cite that there was a problem with their ambulance,” she said.
To reverse this worrying trend, Ndonyo said that a decent workplace with adequate facilities such as improved rural health centers, equipment, essential drugs, non-pharmaceutical supplies, delivery beds and adequate bed space that offers privacy to mothers need to be in place.
Caleb Maloba from Vihiga County said that a number of midwives have to sponsor their own education to better their skills.
“Even after that, the credentials we acquire are not recognised by our institutions so there is little hope for career advancement,” he said.
This locks many practitioners out of the profession leading to the shortage of midwives and the overworking of the available few who have to strain to bridge the human resource gap.
Bold investments by governments in midwives would need to be made in order to bridge that gap.
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