On May 5^th, people all over the world celebrate the difference midwives make in saving the lives of mothers and babies.  International Day of the Midwife is about spreading awareness of the need for midwives and the impact they have on maternal and child health. It is also about advocating for government commitments to improve maternal and neonatal health by raising the number of midwives, and increasing funding and legislative support for midwifery. 

The size of the nursing-midwifery school classes in Tanzania is rapidly shrinking, and the shortage of midwives is felt throughout the country. According to the 2010 Tanzania Demographic Health Survey, only half of births in Tanzania are attended by skilled health personnel. For every 100,000 births in Tanzania, almost 800 women die needlessly in child birth. Most of these are avoidable with access to care and skilled health workers.

The Parliament of Uganda hosted the 126^th Assembly of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) from 31^st March to 5^th April 2012 in Kampala under the  theme “Parliaments and People: Bridging the Gap”

In the assembly parliamentarians  from over 120 countries met to discuss women’s and children’s  health from a human rights perspective - as part of the resolution “Access to Health as a Basic Right: The Role of Parliaments in Addressing Key Challenges to Securing the Health of Women and Children.” -  They also discussed the crucial role that Parliaments and individual parliamentarians have to play in order to realize better health for women and children.

WRA Executive President Theresa Shaver give remarks in the WRA Panel Discussion on Maternal Health at the 126^th Inter-Parliamentary Union. The White Ribbon Alliance (WRA) is there, promoting the IPU resolution ‘Access to Health as a Basic Right: The Role of Parliaments in Addressing Key Challenges to Securing the Health of Women and Children’.

The National Safe Motherhood Alliance (NSMA) of Yemen partnered with several government institutions and non-governmental organizations in 2011 to achieve its goals of social mobilization, media outreach and exposure, youth activities and capacity building.

White Ribbon Alliance India took the famous ‘’Mum’s Tattoo Parlour’’ to the Jaipur Literature Festival this weekend to spread the word about women losing their lives needlessly in pregnancy and childbirth across India.

This posting comes from Yuba Raj Baral, a PhD student at London Metropolitan University. He is researching maternal and newborn health issues in Nepal. Research is a necessary in order to hold governments accountable in their commitments to Every Woman, Every Child because it provides evidence of the on-going problems, where a government’s commitments have fallen short of expectations and where more assistance is necessary to reducing maternal mortality.