The State of the World’s Midwifery 2014: Malawi country brief

This report describes the shortage of all health workers delivering care for women, mothers and babies in each of the 73 countries where progress in maternal and newborn survival is urgently needed. It describes whether these health workers are acceptable to the population, equitably distributed across the country, and educated, regulated and supported to provide high quality care. It urges us to support Midwifery2030, a pathway for realising every woman’s right to high-quality, respectful maternity care.Malawi’s country brief shows that the number of available health workers can only meet a fifth of the population’s need for reproductive, maternal and newborn health services. This contrasts with high reported “skilled birth attendance”  (SBA) in the DHS, indicating either that workers may be spending more time on birth compared to other stages of the continuum of care, or that the SBA indicator may not be adequately measuring care provided by truly skilled workers . While the indicators assessing education, regulation and association show a strong enabling environment for quality care, we note that only 30% of midwife graduates are employed within one year. This means that two-thirds of new graduates are left idle despite the need, and more importantly that many of the skills they learn during their training are lost.Malawi’s country brief also provides a useful section where the future availability of the workforce is tentatively projected, alongside four potential policy scenarios: reducing future pregnancies, doubling graduates, improving efficiency of the workforce, and decreasing the rate at which current workers leave. This is an ideal tool for advocates to begin discussions with policy-makers about the accuracy of the underlying data (especially the number of future graduates entering the workforce), realism of assumptions made, and policy implications of projections.To read the overall report, click here.To read Malawi’s country brief, click here.To compare progress with 2011, click here.UNFPA. (2014). The State of the World’s Midwifery 2014: A Universal Pathway. A Woman’s Right to Health. Malawi Country Profile. New York: United Nations Population Fund.