Young Midwives Workshop for Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal

 

Sixty five young midwives from the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal provinces held a very stimulating and empowering two-day workshop in Port Edward, South Africa, from 15 – 17 July.

 

The workshop saw midwives up to the age of 39 years, from all walks of life - some working in very remote rural areas and others based in the city, meeting to come up with solutions on issues affecting their profession.

Comments from participants included,

“Exciting. Empowering. We are going to do things differently to claim our space and make things happen. We now need to look at the bigger picture.”

The workshop aimed to ensure that the young midwives realize their significance in maternal, child and women’s health, providing valuable health care to women, their partners and children.  It also intended to develop practical skills for tapping creativity, experience and commitment.  To achieve this, discussions were held on leadership and management, communication skills and tools, team building exercises as well as group debates on issues affecting midwifery in South Africa.

 

The timing for the workshop was especially appropriate as it came when the whole world is at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, focusing on acceleration of achievement of Millennium Development Goals. The focus for midwives is MDG 4, 5 and 6 on reducing child and maternal mortality and eradication of HIV, malaria and other communicable disease. The young midwives deliberated on the power midwives have and what they can do to make a difference.

Highlights of the workshop included debates on whether midwives faced challenges because of the system, or they were to blame for shortcomings in the system and whether there were challenges with midwifery education or not.  The young midwives emphasized on their power to make a difference and focused on the bigger picture of maternal, child and women’s health as a whole, what their country can do, the midwifery profession and what the individual can offer and achieve in the process.

As one of the midwives summarized it,

 

“From now on we will look at the bigger picture and work to position ourselves so that our voices as young midwives can be heard.  We are going back to claim our space and position ourselves to influence the direction of maternal and child health care".

The workshop was organized by the Midwives AIDS Alliance (MAA), which is hosted by PATH.  The alliance aims to provide a platform for midwives to actively respond to HIV and AIDS in maternal, child and women’s health, in South Africa.  The young midwives are targeted, in order to increase and retain midwives and encourage them to become leaders that are going to take the midwifery profession to another dimension.