On 5^th May each year, women, girls, midwives, partners and supporters of midwives join together to celebrate International Day of the Midwife. It is a chance to thank and celebrate midwives all around the world, and the fantastic work they do to fight, protect and defend women, girls and midwives’ rights. In 2019, the theme of the day is Midwives: Defenders of Women's Rights.

Midwives play a vital role; the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) states that ‘midwives are skilled to provide the vast majority (> 85%) of pregnancy-related services. This makes them the ideal healthcare provider to support women through the maternity continuum of care, and their role should be supported, protected and advocated for in all settings.

The Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health at LSTM works for and with midwives in many low- and middle-income countries to improve the availability and quality of care for mothers and babies. CMNH conducts implementation research to discover what works, how and why to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality, and delivers capacity-building interventions to build the skills and knowledge of healthcare providers, including midwives, globally.

This year, CMNH is celebrating International Day of the Midwife via postcards from our fantastic colleagues, partners and volunteer midwives globally, a series of blogs, a seminar sharing our work on quality of care and an event held at LSTM on Wed 8^th May. Below is an overview of all of this and more about our work.

Join us in celebrating this year’s Day of the Midwife by sharing our blogs, postcards and seminar with your colleagues and networks, and get in touch with us via email or Twitter.