Yemen urgently needs midwives, says UN official

Dubai: Yemen urgently needs thousands of midwives to allow the country to achieve universal access to skilled care at birth and to achieve the Millennium Development Goal, a UN official said.

Salwa Al Eryani, assistant representative for reproductive health at the United Nations Population Fund [UNFPA], said that UNFPA had discussed how to train additional midwives with the Ministry of Health.

"We are working on a proposal to see how to train these midwives, and in which areas they are needed immediately.

"We are drafting such a proposal and how to go about training 5,000 midwives," she said.

"[In Yemen] 20 per cent of deliveries are attended by skilled midwives. Studies outside Yemen show that when there is an increase in skilled birth attendants there is a decrease in maternal mortality," Al Eryani added.