Midwives – and people with midwifery skills – are the main caregivers for women and their newborns during pregnancy, labour, childbirth and in the post-delivery period. Skilled midwives  are the difference between life and death for hundreds of thousands of women and infants every year.

Yet there are massive midwife shortages around the world. UNFPA works at the global, regional and national level to scale up midwifery services, supporting training efforts and providing supplies and materials to midwifery institutions.

On this International Day of the Midwife, UNFPA celebrates midwives’ contributions towards the miracle of birth – and the countless other things they do every day to contribute to the well-being of mothers and children around the world at a national commemoration event with our partners the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) and the Zimbabwe Confederation of Midwives (ZICOM) under the theme "Midwives, Mothers and Families: Partners for Life."