A group of midwives met during the week to celebrate their profession and acknowledge the importance of providing crucial care to mothers and their newborns.
Twenty-seven mid wives who work at Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital celebrated International Mid Wives Day which falls on 5 May.
Almost every year, midwives encounter some young mothers who abandon their new born baby at the hospital.
This is always a concern for them.
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Pacific, around 27 per cent of women in Samoa have an unmet need for family planning—that is, she wants to delay pregnancy or does not want to get pregnant but is not using any contraception.
Moreover, the rate of adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years giving birth in Samoa is 55 births per 1000 girls. This is important, because when a girl becomes pregnant, her health is endangered, her education and job prospects are damaged, and she becomes more vulnerable to poverty and exclusion.
Midwives acknowledge their role and responsibility support and care women during pregnancy, labour and birth, and once the baby is born.
They also empower women and adolescent girls by providing them information and services on sexual and reproductive health including family planning.
Photo supplied