Academicians and specialists recommended increasing support for midwifery profession in higher education, research and health institutions, and boosting the number of midwifery workers at primary care, hospitals and other maternity centers. They also shed lights on the importance of encouraging midwives to treat mothers and children by excluding medicines and drugs at birth, and according to the scientific guidance of midwifery profession, as well as encouraging midwives to protect the rights of mothers and children.
Those recommendations came during a study day titled “Towards Excellence of Midwifery Profession” held by the Midwifery Department, Faculty of Nursing at IUG in partnership with Midwives Committee at the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Opening session
In this session, Prof. Ashraf Al-Jedi, Dean of Faculty of Nursing, said; “midwifery profession deserves all our attention, care and strenuous effort in order to promote and better it, whether in educational and academic area or in applied and field area”, calling for the need of intensifying and integrating these components to reach impeccable services.
Prof. Al-Jedi explained that this day is attended by academicians from Midwifery Department at IUG, Palestine College for Nursing, University College of Applied Sciences, and midwives working in hospitals and primary care centers at the Ministry of Health along with other institutions such as, Al-Sahaba Medical Complex , Patient Friend’s Benevolent Society and UNRWA, besides the General Administration of Nursing at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and all of this gathering is to form an integrated circle of improvement.
Dr. Khalil Shaqfeh, General Director of the General Administration of Nursing, appreciated the efforts made to improve the midwifery profession within the Palestinian society, which has been developed remarkably during the past few decades, indicating that the death rate of mothers and children has decreased by 50% due to the development in this profession.
Dr. Shaqfeh pointed out that midwives at this stage are in an ideal position to save the lives of mothers and children, since they have the proper training and skills to provide a high-quality basic health care during pregnancy and after childbirth, in addition to their role in empowering women and giving them means to enjoy healthy lives that secure them both physical and reproductive health.
Dr. Arifa Al-Bahri, Head of Midwifery Department at IUG, hinted that the number of midwives in the world is estimated at about 2 million, who provide the basic needs of sexual, reproductive, maternal and neonatal health interventions, and this calls for increasing investment in education and training of midwives as a basic and urgent need.
Dr. Al-Bahri called for the need to promote the culture of using scientific research among workers in the field of midwifery and various health journals because of its role in promoting human and cognitive development, and improving the quality of life and comprehensive health care. She stated that the midwifery department held this study day along with all relevant events that aim to involve midwives in scientific activities, develop the profession and achieve continuous excellence in order to keep pace with professional development to serve mothers and raise the level of health care provided to them.
Ms. Etimad Abu Ward, Head of Midwives Committee at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, said; “We are constantly working in the Midwifery Committee at the Ministry of Health to advance the midwifery profession through many educational programs for the workforce in the midwifery profession, and to internationally spotlight midwives through the Confederation of Midwives.”
She added that the committee participates in many scientific conferences, such as the International Conference of Midwives via distance learning technology, and works to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by empowering women and reducing maternal mortality and mortality of newborns and children under five years old.
Ms. Abu Ward noted that the Midwives Committee owns a database of midwives of the Ministry of Health to formulate policies that sustain the health of the mother, child and family, and to participate in protocols and advocate for women in all stages of their lives, and thus invigorating the Palestinian family by protecting the reproductive and sexual health of Palestinian women.
The scientific sessions of the study day
The study day was held over two scientific sessions, the following topics were discussed in the first one: “midwifery from the past to present”, “women in Gaza in the period between 10 and 21/5/2021”, and “an overview of midwifery reality “.
In the second session, the following topics were discussed: “midwife’s practices regarding evidence-based activities in the third stage of travail at Tahrir Maternity Hospital in the Gaza Strip”, “caesarean section rates and efficacy of analgesics”, and “the quality of midwives’ care in operating rooms of government maternity hospitals in the Gaza Strip”.
