News

A mother in Zimbabwe delivers four “miracle” babies

29 December 2014
Nurse Langelisha Zamisa (left) and Elizabeth Moyana (right) hold Ms. Moyana's quadruplets at Chiredzi General Hospital.© UNFPA Zimbabwe/Stewart Muchapera
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News

UN calls for intensified efforts to end fistula

23 December 2014
Fistula survivors who have recently received treatment now participate in a livelihood programme in National Center for Fistula Treatment, N'Djamena, Chad. The programme aims to successfully reintegrate survivors into their communities. © UNFPA/Ollivier Girard
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News

Abandoning Female Genital Cutting/Mutilation in the Afar Region of Ethiopia

08 April 2010
A former circumciser teaching community members on harms of FGM/C. Photo: Abraham Gelaw
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News

Midwives Deliver for the Women of the World

02 May 2013
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Press Release

Reproductive health care critical for pregnant women affected by Typhoon Hagupit

09 December 2014
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News

In race to save women's lives, solutions are within reach, says UNFPA head

21 September 2014
<p>Maternal and neonatal death rates remain stubbornly high, studies show. But the solutions to these problems are known, and deceptively simple. <i>Photo credit: Jerome Sessini/Magnum Photos</i> </p>
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Obstetric fistula is a severe morbidity caused when a woman or girl suffers from prolonged obstructed labour without timely access to emergency obstetric care, notably a Caesarean section. The sustained pressure of the baby’s head on the mother’s pelvic bone damages her soft tissues, creating a hole – or fistula – between the vagina and the bladder and/or rectum. In most cases, the baby is stillborn or dies soon after birth, and the woman suffers a devastating injury – a fistula - that renders her incontinent. 
 
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The Midwifery Programme Guidance has been developed by UNFPA in collaboration with ICM for country offices, programme managers,  partner agencies, and midwifery managers in Ministries of Health, to assist them in developing, ‘scaling up’ and/or strengthening midwifery programmes at the national level. It explains key midwifery concepts, outlines a step by step approach on how to strengthen midwifery Education, Regulation and Association, engage stakeholders, undertake effective policy advocacy and fund raising and references key available resources to do so.