International Midwifery Shortage- How can we tackle this?

An enlightening report published by the BBC here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/ferguswalsh/2011/04/midwife_shortages_costing_lives.html discusses the cost of lack of trained midwives internationally on young lives.

Not only that but an article by the independant midwives UK discussed a shortage of them in the UK, let alone the developing world.

As students you may not consider the midwifery shortage world wide to affect you directly, but if you were placed in a position to tackle this, what would- in your opinion- be the best way?

Will it ever be tackled, or should be promote better quality of midwives rather than quantity?

Reply 1

Psyk

Encourage more men to be midwives? I know it seems a bit weird considering what they do, but there's plenty of male gynecologists. I have a friend who's a midwife and she told me there were only around 4 male midwives in the entire country.

Reply 2

concubine

I wish they were called midhusbands.

I love listening to outraged feminist *****.

Reply 3

Subcutaneous

Original post by Psyk

Oh I'm sure there's more than 4! I know 2, and I'm sure I don't know the half the number of male midwives there are!

However only recently has nursing had males increase, midwifery may be much further behind.

Reply 4

Democracy

Ultimately this sort of thing is a symptom of a much larger problem: endemic corruption, mismanagement of health services and lack of educational facilities in developing countries due to greedy leaders more concerned with lining their own pockets than helping their people.

Similarly Swaziland's HIV problem has reached epidemic proportions, yet nothing is being done about it. Medicine in the third world is really just plain depressing, makes you realise how lucky you are to live in Britain and have the NHS...

Reply 5

Planar

I don't imagine that many men want "wife" as part of their job description.

Reply 6

SemperVivum

I have a friend who is a final year midwifery student and apparently there is a big shortage of jobs for newly qualified midwives in the UK. It's not going to encourage people to enter the profession if people leaving midwifery degrees are struggling to find jobs.

Reply 7

Subcutaneous

Original post by Planar

I don't imagine that many men want "wife" as part of their job description.

So do you think a Name change such as 'birthing practitioner' would change that ?

Reply 8

Psyk

Original post by Subcutaneous

Oh right, well there's probably more than 4 then.

Reply 9

Planar

Original post by Subcutaneous

So do you think a Name change such as 'birthing practitioner' would change that ?

That name wouldn't work because it sounds like something Tony Blair concocted in a stuffy room with Harriet Harman, a room from which no good has ever or could ever come. Although, some sort of name change would help.

Reply 10

Fusilero

Original post by Planar

Hmm, indeed. Perhaps make them a Nursing Specialism?

Nursing - Obstetrics Care or somesuch.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 11

Bella_trixxx

Original post by concubine

I wish they were called midhusbands.

I love listening to outraged feminist *****.

Midwife: from the Middle English words mid (with) and wif (woman). So, literally someone who is with a woman at the time of birth. A man is a midwife as well!

Reply 12

Subcutaneous

Original post by Fusilero

Hmm, indeed. Perhaps make them a Nursing Specialism?

Nursing - Obstetrics Care or somesuch.

Yes but they're not nurses and have a totally separate job. Like calling a fireman a police officer who specialists in fighting fires lol

Reply 13

Fusilero

Original post by Subcutaneous

Yes but they're not nurses and have a totally separate job. Like calling a fireman a police officer who specialists in fighting fires lol

Like, err, the Fire Police?

Reply 14

Subcutaneous

Original post by Fusilero

Like, err, the Fire Police?

Who are a volunteer organization outside of the UK and no comparison really!

Reply 15

Planar

Original post by Fusilero

Hmm, indeed. Perhaps make them a Nursing Specialism?

Nursing - Obstetrics Care or somesuch.

Here in NI, some policemen will call themselves civil servants instead of policemen(due to the Troubles). Perhaps male midwives could just call themselves nurses

Reply 16

Psyk

Original post by Planar

Here in NI, some policemen will call themselves civil servants instead of policemen(due to the Troubles). Perhaps male midwives could just call themselves nurses

But a police officer is a type of civil servant, so what they call themselves is accurate. A midwife is not a type of nurse, so that would be incorrect.

Reply 17

Aphotic Cosmos

Have fewer children, you need less midwives . . .

Reply 18

Planar

Original post by Psyk

But a police officer is a type of civil servant, so what they call themselves is accurate. A midwife is not a type of nurse, so that would be incorrect.

I know it's accurate, but it's terribly vague. They were trying to avoid saying they that were policemen, because then the IRA might have murdered them. According to my mother(a midwife, funnily enough), nurses are not necessarily midwives, so you're right, it's not terribly accurate. I don't know, I'm going to go and watch the Grand National

Reply 19

James1977

Original post by Psyk

Unfortunately institutional discrimination within the healthcare sector is a major stumbling block that prevents many males from entering into midwifery. Whilst the official line is that males can be midwifes there is often an underlying question within this female-dominated sector as to "why would a male want to do those things?" Males also put barriers on themselves, chosing to enter more 'manly' areas of healthcare such as critical care, surgery, A&E etc.

I believe current figures find about 0.8% of the current NHS midwifery workforce as being male.

A wish to see more males as midwifes is a bit of a red herring though. The current issue with midwifery shortages is not one that is easy to fix because of the deep hole it is. The demands of "well train more midwifes" is an oft heard one is the press but who will train them? Staff shortages with respect to midwifes are so bad that there are few who are able or willing to act as mentors to students coming through the system due to the high demands placed on their skills from their primary role. Add in political grandstanding (such reducing the numbers of non-EU staff allowed to work within the NHS) and the problems faced are made even more apparent.

This of course is not unique to midwifery. Paramedics may be the next sector that struggles to recruit significantly due to the current trend by authorities to cut funding for Paramedic Science courses. With the potential for reduced numbers going through now who will be available to train new applicants in the future? When funds are tight many authorities see teaching/training as easy targets for cuts ("concentrating on frontline services" as they'll no doubt put it) but the need for training doesn't go away, its just made more difficult at a later point.