Every year half a million women die in pregnancy or childbirth and 10-15 million suffer serious and long lasting illness or injuries. Many of these deaths and disabilities could be prevented if all birth were attended by a skilled midwife. "By investing in midwives and ensuring universal access to quality sexual and reproductive health including family planning, skilled attendance at birth and backed by emergency obstetric care, millions of women and newborn lives can be saved", commented Mariam Khan, UNFPA Country Representative.
On this International Day of the Midwife 5th May, the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA in collaboration with Youth of United Nations (YUNA) are organizing an Inter-University Debate on Midwives save mother's lives in marking the International Day of Midwives to promote midwifery as a profession also their crucial role towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, targets A and B, by 2015 and beyond.
Chief Guest Mrs. Felister Bwana – UNFPA Program Specialist Health Systems
The theme of the event was ''The World Needs More Midwives Now Than Ever'' . The chief Guest was a representative of the UNFPA Country Representative, Mrs. Felister Bwana.
The inter- University debate to mark International Day was conducted on 4th May,at MUHAS – Muhimbili Lecture Hall 5 ,the event was attended by about 514 people with the age range from 16-30 years and the gender ratio was 60% female and 40% male.
The event took place from 9:00am to 13:30pm. The event were attended by Participants from University Nursing Students Assciation (UNSATA), Tanzania Midwives Association (TAMA), YUNA Member from different Chapters and Clubs, University students from University of Dar Es Salaam (UDSM), Institute of Finance Management (IFM), Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences(MUHAS), Tumaini University, Mwl. Nyerere Memorial Academy (MNMA) , Institute of Social works and Pugu secondary school, Mtakuja Beach Secondary school,Minaki Secondary School, Yeshua Secondary School ,Kibasila Secondary School and Benjamini Secondary School their attendance is highly appreciated also the presentation were from UNSATA and TAMA.
We also wish to recognize support from UNSATA for their helping us to coordinate as midwives professionals also the Muhimbili UN Chapter which hosted the event at their chapter.
The participants viewed a short film on midwives environment in Tanzania.Why should a mother die while giving birth (MDG5) Video.
Some of the issues raised during the debate were:
Prisca Mwendegule, a fourth year student from the University Nursing Students Association of Tanzania supported the theme as she insisted on the matter that children mortality during birth is mostly saved by midwives who attend to the pregnant women also the fact that trained midwives can prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS from the infected mother to the baby during delivery.
Justen Nguvilla, an 18 yr old student from Mtakuja Secondary school, further insisted that in order to prepare for the future generation a mother who gets poor services from the midwives conclusively will lead to the total reduction of number of children at birth, however increase in midwives may save lives of the unborn child.
The members of the floor listening to one of the 20 speakers
The members of the floor listening to one of the 20 speakers
Msuya, from Mwl. Nyerere Memorial Academy was against the motion due to the reasons that the current present midwives present are not given priority by the government making most midwives to lack proper trainings also midwives will lack their importance if the society is unaware of the importance's of midwives in delivering children
Generally, the awareness and knowledge on midwives is poor even to the professionals themselves as we noticed some inaccurate data presented also the general populations attitude on Midwifery is negative on midwives. and the big question was "Is the increase of well skilled Midwives possible and do we really need them??"
As an output of the debate, we see the need to have outreach programs for secondary school students so as to benefit them with the awareness on midwives importance at early stage and inspire them to join the noble profession. also to Midwifery schools outreaches to motivate them and increase their awareness of how crucial their work is.
The Best Debaters
Based on knowledge on the theme, understanding on the issues and relevance of the point to the topic and how is presented the first three outstanding winners were mentioned from the third to the first who were Miss Barnaba from the School of Nursing , Prisca from the school of midwifery in MUHAS and Justin Nguvilla from Mtakuja Secondary school.
Justin Nguvilla ( centre in uniforms) carried by the organisers as he was approaching the high table to take his internship award
Justin Nguvilla ( centre in uniforms) carried by the organisers as he was approaching the high table to take his internship award
However Justin Nguvilla became the Overall winner by scoring 34 out of 45 for his clear understanding and being straight to the point in his remarks. With his victory, Justin earned an internship opportunity at UNFPA for three month to learn how the UN System and UNFPA works and become an ambassador. These are the fruits of being a member of YUNA (Clubs / Chapters) "Viva the Association bringing youth closer to the UN"
