The International Day of the Midwife 2007
Transcription
The International Day of the Midwife 2007
The International Day of the Midwife 2007 With the triennial theme of ‘Keeping birth normal’ and the year’s focus of ‘Reaching out to women’, midwives celebrated in their own way across the world This year’s round-up includes extracts from items published in the local or national press, as well as reports from member associations. At ICM Head Office we were delighted to see more articles of both sorts than ever before. The International Day is more widely recognised every year and is becoming a major event in the process of raising the midwifery profile in the global arena. Afghanistan Over 150 members of the three-year-old Afghan Midwives Association (AMA) came together to mark the day. Dr Saed M Amin Fatemi, Minister of Public Health in the Afghan government, opened the celebrations at the Insaf Hotel in the capital city Kabul and, during his speech, pledged the support of the Ministry to the AMA to assist in meeting its goals. At the annual congress, held immediately before the IDM, midwives were presented with certificates and gifts for their individual achievements, and there were also prizes for designing a midwifery poster. One winning poster, shown below, designed and crafted by midwives from Nangarhar province, symbolises the midwives as doves who bring health and peace to the families of Afghanistan, while the spreading branches of the trees show the different places and ways in which midwives carry out their work. Australia The Advertiser in Bendigo, Victoria, reported on May 5 that: ‘Midwives at Bendigo Health and from around the world are taking part in International Midwives Day celebrations today. The day honours and promotes midwifery and the many and varied aspects of the role. Among the celebrations at Bendigo Health, the staff farewelled midwife Annette Ramage, who retired after 32 years of service. '‘I've had so many highlights in my career," she said. ‘‘ … meeting the [women], seeing through their pregnancies and then seeing them return again for their second and third babies. The other is I have worked with a wonderful bunch of colleagues." To celebrate International Midwives Day Ms Ramage presented a quilt to Julie Dillon and baby Riley (photo above). Austria Austrian midwives braved wet spring weather to join many other European midwives in releasing balloons to publicise the idea of keeping birth normal. The Austrian balloons were printed with the slogan ‘Kinder kommen durch Frauenkraft’ – ‘Children are born through woman-power!’ Burundi Une année vient de s’écouler depuis que les femmes burundaises accouchent gratuitement dans les structures sanitaire publiques. Cet anniversaire et la journée internationale de la sage femme ont été célébrés au Burundi le 05 mai 2007 dans toutes les provinces du 39 pays dans le but de palper les réalités du terrain dans le milieu reculé. Lors des manifestations, les sages-femmes ont été informés sur l’état d’avancement du dossier d’agrément de l’association Burundaise de sages-femmes « ABUSAFE » en sigle. Dans la province de Rutana, les sages-femmes et autres professionnels de la santé se sont retrouvés à la maternité de Gihofi pour évaluer ensemble les résultats de la maternité gratuite dans cette province et procéder au lancement du Groupe d’Assistance pour la Promotion de la Maternite sans Risques (voir le photo), une association qui regroupe les sages-femmes, infirmières, auxiliaires de santé, accoucheuse traditionnelles et autres animateurs de santé. L’objectif de cette association est de sensibiliser les femmes à l’age de procréer sur l’importance de la consultation prénatale, le dépistage volontaire du VIH/Sida pendant la grossesse et les autres avantages d’accoucher sous assistance qualifiée. Elle va aussi encadrer toutes femmes victimes des grossesses issues de la violence sexuelle sur toutes ces formes. Une fois agréer, l’association Burundaise des sagesfemmes compte mettre sur pieds à travers ce groupe, une équipe mobile qui sera prête à intervenir à tout moment devant une urgence obstétricale qui pourra survenir dans les centres de santé les plus reculés. Les manifestations ont été clôturées par la remise des moustiquaires aux femmes qui ont accouchés le 1–5 mai 2007 à l’hôpital de Gihofi. ➧ Une femme qui a accouché à Gihofi International Midwifery Volume 20 – Number 3 September 2007