11 May 2017
Last Friday, 5 May, was the International Day of the Midwife, and this year’s theme was ‘Midwives, Mothers and Families: Partners for Life.’ Midwives around the globe understand that by working in partnership with women and their families they can support them to make better health decisions and ensure a safe birth.
To celebrate and strengthen the work of our dedicated team of community midwives working with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, this year Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) participated in a national conference organised by the Lebanese Order of Midwives and United Nations Population Fund, titled ‘The Core Developing Role of the Midwife in Family Planning’.
At the conference, Dr Ali Dakwar, Project Coordinator for MAP’s Maternal and Child Health programme in Lebanon, discussed how midwifery care can overcome barriers to quality family planning. Speaking on a panel, Dr Dakwar outlined the successes of this programme, which provides the only home-visiting midwifery service in the 12 refugee camps where the majority of the 452,000 registered Palestinian refugees in Lebanon live.
These camps are a particularly challenging environment for any woman to give birth or any child to grow up in. Rates of poverty are high, and Palestinian refugees face considerable barriers to realising their rights and accesing adequate services, particularly those for mothers and young children.
Our team of midwives provides evidence-based baby-care and family planning advice for mothers and families, encourage breast-feeding, and monitor the development of new-born babies. Where problems are identified, they can refer pregnant women, children and mothers for specialist care
The team is helping to keep Palestinian babies healthy in Lebanon. They have helped to increase breast-feeding rates, reduce anaemia and decrease the rate of high-risk pregnancies.
MAP’s senior midwife in Beddawi camp also spoke at the conference. She drew upon her experience of working as a community midwife to discuss new initiatives and good practices in family planning.
We have featured the work of this inspirational team in the latest edition of our biannual supporter Magazine, Witness. If you would like to read more about this project, click here.
Would you like to support our Maternal and Child Health programme in Lebanon? Please donate today:
