Midwives as Promoters of Public Health 

Midwives as Promoters of Public Health

Introduction

Despite significant advances and developments in healthcare, pregnancy, and childbirth still faces numerous challenges, going by statistics. Each year, there are 2.6 million stillbirths; 2 million newborns die within 24 hours of being born, while 350,000 women die while giving birth or during pregnancy (Smith, 2012). As such, pregnancy and giving birth is now a significant public health concern of global importance. Most of these deaths are preventable, but they still happen since many women remain marginalized, poor, and unable to access the necessary healthcare while pregnant or delivering. This paper discusses a new and evolved role of midwives as being an important cog in public health.

Discussion

Public health appears far removed from the daily happenings in a maternity hospital or the midwives in these facilities. Still, they have an emerging and highly significant role to play in public health, going by the statistics in the introduction. Midwives have become essential and indispensable in public health, and this is now just being acknowledged. There are several barriers that result in midwives not appreciating their essential role in public health, and acknowledging this role in public health is critical to making midwifery a public health domain (Biro, 2011). Midwifery is a woman-centric profession; it also has a political aspect given efforts at the emancipation of women, and it is also a discipline in primary healthcare premised on relationships between women and the midwives that serve them. Midwifery is also an emancipating profession, given that it enhances and protects the social status and wellbeing of women and unborn and newly born children. In turn, this increases and protects the wellbeing and health of society (McNeill, Doran, Lynn, Anderson & Alderdice, 2012)..

Midwives have and continue to incorporate an increasing range of interventions about pubic health in their daily work schedules. These activities are not just extra tasks, but the integration of public health into the role of midwifery. Midwives need additional support to implement various public health strategies, especially in developing nations where deaths during pregnancy or childbirth, and infant mortality rates are highest. Midwives have an essential role in public health since they provide critical and highly relevant information and care to expectant mothers and new parents, apart from ensuring the safe delivery of children and child health (Biro, 2011). Public health is the science and art of prolonging life, preventing disease, and promoting health via organized societal efforts. Midwives do play these roles, and more; they provide care and information to expectant mothers and new parents that improve their wellbeing, that of unborn and infant children, and tackle various inequalities and challenges beginning right from preconception to the 6-8 postpartum period (McNeill, Doran, Lynn, Anderson & Alderdice, 2012).

Conclusion

These roles ensure all women are fit for pregnancy, and also during pregnancy’ midwives make sure that families with newborns receive the best support to guarantee the best life start for the newborns. This contribution, therefore, deserves support and strengthening, apart from being acknowledged as an essential aspect of public health.

References

Biro, M. (2011). What has public health got to do with midwifery? Midwives’ role in securing better health outcomes for mothers and babies. Women And Birth, 24(1), 17-23. doi: 10.1016/j.wombi.2010.06.001

McNeill, J., Doran, J., Lynn, F., Anderson, G., & Alderdice, F. (2012). Public health education for midwives and midwifery students: a mixed methods study. BMC Pregnancy And Childbirth, 12(1). doi: 10.1186/1471-2393-12-142

Smith, G. (2012). Researching New Methods of Screening for Adverse Pregnancy Outcome: Lessons from Pre-eclampsia. Plos Medicine, 9(7), e1001274. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001274