To mark International Day of the Midwife as Médecins Sans Frontières, we’re shining a light on the role of midwives as frontline emergency responders.

Midwives are essential to prevent and resolve obstetric emergencies, but also indispensable in responding to humanitarian emergencies. They are central to not only providing lifesaving care but also to be “with woman” as the name ‘midwife’ signifies, accompanying women’s and adolescent girls in their diverse, and often amplified, health needs.  

“I believe midwives are important everywhere we work, but more so now given the changing humanitarian landscape we see, where we see many sexual reproductive health programs have been defunded,” says Kate Charlton, a midwife who now coordinates medical activities for MSF in emergency contexts such as Gaza, Myanmar (post-earthquake) and Sudan. “We're also in a period where we see more conflicts than ever, and we know that women disproportionately suffer during conflicts.”  

Yet despite their important role, and the evidence of their impact, there are simply not enough midwives available where they are needed most.   

When midwives are embedded in health systems, they could prevent more than four in five of all maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths, according to the World Health Organization. But these often preventable deaths are not experienced evenly around the world. Nearly two in three maternal deaths—those due to complications of pregnancy or childbirth, up to 42 days after the pregnancy ended—and the ramifications of that loss are borne in countries affected by conflict or considered fragile.  

This package marking IDM2026 features storyholders:
• Kate Charlton, medical coordinator OCA
• Maryam Saidy, midwife activity manager, Khost, Afghanistan
• Blessing Odagwe, midwife activity manager, Nyala, Sudan
• Ygline Saint Clair, midwife, Cité Soleil, Haiti.