The world is currently facing a shortage of 900,000 midwives, which represents a third of the required global midwifery workforce, according to the 2021 State of World’s Midwifery report by UNFPA (the UN sexual and reproductive health agency), World Health Organization (WHO), International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and partners.
The report evaluates the midwifery workforce and related health resources in 194 countries.
The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated these problems, with the health needs of women and newborns being overshadowed, midwifery services being disrupted, and midwives being deployed to other healthcare services, the WHO said.
“Despite alarms raised in the last State of the World’s Midwifery report in 2014, which also provided a roadmap on how to remedy this deficit, progress over the past eight years has been too slow. The analysis in this year’s report shows that, at current rates of progress, the situation will have improved only slightly by 2030,” the WHO said.
The WHO also said, “Gender inequality is an unacknowledged driver in this massive shortage. The continued under-resourcing of the midwifery workforce is a symptom of health systems not prioritizing the sexual and reproductive health needs of women and girls, and not recognizing the role of midwives – most of whom are women – to meet these needs. Women account for 93 per cent of midwives and 89 per cent of nurses.
