Community Based Midwives Practice in Patriarchal Social System

It is well accepted globally, that midwives can save the lives of mothers and their new-born successfully, if the community stakeholders provide support and freedom for full scope of practice. Recognising this many countries deploy midwives in the community as an intervention to achieve the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) 4 and 5 targets set for decreasing maternal and neonatal mortality, respectively. However, high-income countries’ reports show very good results, in achieving MDGs 4 and 5 while the low-income countries lag behind in this regard. The situation in high-income and low-income countries is different because midwives practising in the community in low-income countries face many barriers. These barriers include a lack of understanding of midwives’ role, inadequate logistic arrangements, patriarchy, culture, and norms at the level of the family and society that affect all CMWs’ (Community Midwives) lives as women. This case report seeks to explain how the pattern of the patriarchal social system imposes barriers on the practice of midwives in low-income countries, with particular focus on Pakistan. It also recommends that midwives should be empowered in order to deal with barriers that are imposed due to patriarchy and tradition

Midwifery in Gilgit Baltistan by Aga Khan Health Service, Pakistan

Midwives are practicing in diverse capacities in public and private health settings of Pakistan, including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) such as the Aga Khan Health Service, Pakistan (AKHS, P), which is a leading non-profit, non-governmental and non-denominational community-based organization that provides quality maternal and child health services all over Pakistan. Maternal and child health centers led by registered Midwives and Lady Health visitors (LHV), were specifically established in Gilgit Baltistan in 1974 by this NGO as a strategy to combat the alarming rates of maternal and child mortalities

JAM – Winter 2018

Editorial without an abstract. This editorial focuses on the medical/social model of childbirth as applied to (South) Asi