5th May: International Midwives Day

5 May 2020: Amidst the raging COVID 19 pandemic, midwives continue to show resilience and provide life-saving services to pregnant women, ensuring healthy outcomes for women and their babies. The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) is proud to celebrate this year’s International Day of the Midwife (IDM) on 5th May 2021 under the theme of “Follow the Data: Invest in Midwives.” We look forward to coming together as a global midwife community to advocate for investment in quality midwifery care around the world, improving sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health in the process. As we join midwives from around the world to reflect on the progress made by our profession, this year's theme is timely because IDM will coincide with the launch of the 2021 State of the World's Midwifery (SoWMy) Report. Co-led by UNFPA, WHO, and ICM, SoWMy 2021 provides an updated evidence base and detailed analysis on the impact of midwives on maternal and newborn health outcomes and the return on investment in midwives. Through this lens, ICM will lead ongoing and growing efforts to center midwives as fundamental to improving quality maternal and newborn care, ending preventable maternal and newborn deaths, and achieving SDG 3.1 (reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100 000 live births by 2030). All women and newborns have a right to a quality of care that enables a positive childbirth experience that includes respect and dignity, a companion of choice, clear communication by maternity staff, pain relief strategies, mobility in labour, and birth position of choice.