A wide range of strategies to reduce maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality through encouraging facility-based births and skilled attendance at birth have been established in various countries. In some countries, these strategies have been partly successful, and, in some contexts, these are now showing adverse outcomes such as increase in interventions including unnecessary caesarean sections.
Available evidence shows that one cost-effective option for maternal and newborn health care with the best outcomes and lowest rates of interventions is care provided by midwives. It has been shown that midwifery care is key to ending preventable maternal and newborn deaths and improving the quality of care, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
Latest evidence from the World Health Organization, UNFPA and International Confederation of Midwives shows that midwives educated to international standards can provide over 80% of the essential maternal and newborn services.
This is not surprising as the latest findings from the 2022 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey also showed that over 90% of maternal newborn child and adolescent health services are provided by mainly midwives and nurses, majorly in health centers II and IIIs.
Midwife-led care is a specific model of midwifery care in which midwives are the lead professionals to support women in the planning, organization, and delivery of care from the initial visit during antenatal care, and delivery process up to the postnatal period. Evidence shows that such a model of care is a cost-efficient way to improve maternal newborn health outcomes, reducing medical interventions and increasing satisfaction with care.
Additionally, women undergoing the Midwife-Led Care Model are less likely to have an epidural, an episiotomy, or an instrumental birth. In fact, women’s chances of having a spontaneous vaginal birth are increased. On the other hand, there are no adverse effects compared to other models of care. I therefore encourage women in our communities to embrace the Midwife-Led Care Model for better outcomes.
Lilian Nuwabaine Luyima is a BSc Nurse & MSN-Midwife & Women’s’ Health Specialist
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