Cambodian midwife is taking care new born baby
Despite already having reached UN development goals on maternal mortality, health centers in rural area across the country still lack hundreds of midwives, Health Ministry officials said at a conference on health care for mothers and their children.
Keth Ly Sotha, deputy director of the National maternal and Child Health Center, said that while the number of health facilities with a midwife had increase—227 center had no midwives in 2006 compared to no health centers without one today—another 700 nurses and midwives would be recruited and sent to rural areas this year.
“This year, we are recruiting more than 700 nurses and midwives for the whole country,” Mr. Ly Sotha told the conference, adding that Cambodia now has 3,678 midwives in public facilities around the country.
The government announced last year that it had already met its Millennium Development Goal of reducing the maternal mortality rate to less than 250 deaths per 100,000 births. In 2010 the number of women who died per 100,000 births stood at 206.
Midwife education in Cambodia
Still, Koum Kanal, a gynecologist and adviser to the Ministry of Health, said on the sidelines in the meeting that the number of women dying in rural areas is still higher that in urban centers.
“How can we make it equal between rural and urban?” Mr. Kanal asked, adding that giving bonuses of $15 per successful delivery to midwives in rural areas had helped attract more midwives to the provinces.
“But the concern is the salary of the staff is still limited,” he said. Sin Somony, director of Medicam—an umbrella organization for Cambodia health NGOs—said midwives trained in Phnom Penh are still hesitant to work in rural areas due to the living conditions.
“There is a need for continuing education to update methods, especially in regard to maternal, new born and child health,” he said. “Another option is to train locals as midwives and then encourage them to stay.”
Traditional midwife
Cambodian traditional midwife
Even though the the Ministry of Health announced to people to give birth at the health center to be safe, but more people in the province, especially the poor people are still try to deliver baby with the traditional method. And the midwife that help in delivery is called “the traditional midwife”. This midwife usually does not have a medical degree or have not been professionally trained from health official, but they have been trained from the older people. They do not have medicine for the mother, but use the alternative medicine that they can find from jungle. After the baby born, the mother need to sleep on the bed and they put some charcoal beneath to make it warm for the mother.
We want all pregnant mothers go to deliver their baby at the hospital or health center to be safer because at these facilities they have doctors or nurses, or midwives that have been professionally trained.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Midwives deverse more than a raise. They deverse respect from our society and from the medical profession. While some doctors are just prescribing drug after drug, midwives are truly helping women and their babies. My midwifery team was so supportive and totally present during my labour and delivery. I really couldn’t thank them enough. I realize that midwives are not for every woman, but every woman should have the choice. Sadly, there are just not enough midwives and many women spend months on a waiting list at a midwifery clinic only to end up without a midwife and an unwanted hospital experience. Bottom line: the birthing woman should have access to what she wants and the ability to choose.
Deaw Wowa,
Thank you very much for sharing about this. I believe you that midwives are very important for the society especially for every woman. Unfortunately, we do not have enough midwives in Cambodia. There are more in the city, but not in the provinces. Hopefully there will be more midwives in the provinces in the future to serve the poor and needy people.