The Kenya Midwives Chapter has called for the training of more midwives in the country to address the deficit of 180,000 midwives.
Chairperson of the Midwives Chapter of the National Nurses Association of Kenya Louisa Muteti said the shortage of midwives in the country has led to deaths of expectant mothers and their unborn babies.
Muteti said the safety of pregnant women and their babies during childbirth maybe at risk if the matter is not addressed early enough.
She said that currently, the country has about 2,500 qualified midwife nurses and about 70 of them specialise in midwifery.
Muteti who has 21 years of experience in midwifery, said Mombasa is among the counties faced with shortage of midwives.
The government had a training programme for midwives but it was phased out in the early 1990s leading to the shortage, said the chairperson.
Muteti said, “The country is faced with a serious problem of maternal deaths due to shortage of trained midwives to help women during pregnancy, birth and after delivery.”
“There is need for us to be recognised as an independent profession. Currently, nurses are being taught midwifery as part of their nursing courses. This should not be the case.”
“We have realised that we cannot stem maternal and infant mortality particularly the neonatal mortality while we lack professional midwives.”
Muteti was addressing journalists on Tuesday during the 21st Kenya Midwives Conference at the Reef Hotel in Nyali, Mombasa. The conference started on Tuesday and ends on August 15.
She said they will push for a policy to petition the county and national governments to employ more midwives.