Midwife International

We envision a world in which the care of a well-trained, respectful and supported midwife is available to every woman within her own cultural context, community and choice of birth setting.

Our mission is to strengthen the capacity of midwives to achieve the best possible outcomes for mothers and babies worldwide.

Thriving mothers create thriving children, and ultimately, a thriving world. Yet nearly 800 women die every day from pregnancy and birth related causes, causing community trauma and adversely impacting the nutrition, education, and overall wellbeing of families. Further, ten million infants and children die each year before their fifth birthday; 99% of these deaths occur in developing nations. Infant mortality takes away society's potential physical, social, and human capital.

Now more then ever, the world needs more midwives. Midwives not only save lives, they provide cost-effective, culturally appropriate and locally accessible maternal and newborn healthcare. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) State of the World’s Midwifery 2014 Report,  investing in midwifery education, with deployment to community-based services, could yield a 16-fold return on investment in terms of lives saved and costs of caesarean sections avoided, and is a "best buy" in primary health care,

Investing in midwives will free doctors, nurses and other health cadres to focus on other health needs, and contributes to achieving a grand convergence: reducing infections, ending preventable maternal mortality and ending preventable newborn deaths.

Our main focus at this time is the Midwife International Community Action Program (MICAP). Through MICAP, Midwife International (MI) will support a series of mobile service and education clinics in key underserved areas where there is a critical need for better access to skilled reproductive, maternal and newborn health (RMNH) care. The mobile clinics will serve a triple purpose: (1) providing critical RMNH services, including birth education, to women and their families; (2) educating and training frontline health workers to provide the highest-quality, evidence-based care; (3) providing transportation and improving referral linkages to higher level facilities for pregnant and laboring women, when necessary. Research has shown that mobile clinics have been successful in increasing utilization of key services. By giving mothers access to high-quality health care; providing region-specific education and training for frontline health workers, based on internationally recognized standards; and improving referral and transportation systems between the community and facility level, the MICAP program will save lives, and create a sustainable foundation for healthier and more stable families and communities.