WHO CC involvement: Professor Caroline Homer

Professor Caroline Homer, was part of a core group who wrote the State of the World’s Midwifery Report (SoWMy2014) in 2013-2014 with UNFPA, WHO and ICM. In early 2015, UNFPA’s Arab States Regional Office (ASRO) commissioned a report to analyse and better understand the state of midwifery in selected countries in the region representing the region’s diversity. Seven of the 13 remaining countries, (Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen) were already included in the main SoWMy 2014 report, ASRO expanded the same survey to the remaining 6 countries (Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine and Tunisia). These six countries were asked to complete the SoWMy questionnaire - covering the midwifery workforce, education, regulation, professional associations, policy and planning frameworks, and progress since 2011 - and their responses were added to those from the original seven countries, to enable an analysis of the state of midwifery across the region.

The State of Midwifery in Selected Arab Countries, was launched at the meeting in Cairo by UNFPA, ICM and WHO. The 4 day workshop then concentrated on achieving these outputs:

  • Improved understanding of the development of the midwifery workforce and the SoWMy2014 country data
  • Improved understanding of the similarities and differences between countries in SoWMy2014 and what drives the differences
  • Discussed country-specific midwifery workforce development strategies and policy options
  • Developed TORs for establishing a regional midwifery network
  •  A workshop report with recommendations for action

Meetings like this enable a better understanding of midwifery capacity regionally and for WHO CC UTS to keep abreast of policies and frameworks concerning health care practice globally.