Introduction: Two women die every hour due to pregnancy and childbirth related
complications in Bangladesh. It is well known that a strong midwifery profession is the key to
achieving safer childbirth and it is the right of every woman to have access to a fully trained
midwife and to a safe delivery. However this is not the case in Bangladesh. Today, the
existing nurse-midwives are not fully utilized for the midwifery services. The profession is
mal-distributed, functioning as multi-purpose service provider and are not recognized as a
separate cadre of midwives. In relation to develop a six month additional Midwifery training
for these nurse-midwives, it was therefore essential to get a better understanding about their
current knowledge in the field of midwifery.
Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of the nurse-midwives providing
midwifery services in twelve different health facilities in Bangladesh.
Methodology: This baseline study was conducted at twelve different health facilities in
Bangladesh, using a questionnaire adapted from Johns Hopkins University (JHPIEGO),
Maternal Health Programs, Guidelines for Assessment of skilled providers and modified into
the context of Bangladesh. It was a total of 38 respondents attending the survey and data was
compiled and analyzed manually.
Result: The assessment showed that the respondents had a vast gap in their knowledge of
basic midwifery skills. The findings showed that the majority of them had a significantly low
score of knowledge related to antenatal care, normal labour, and management of
complications, childbirth and immediate newborn care as well as in post partum care.
Discussion: The study demonstrated that the midwifery knowledge of the respondents did not
fulfil the International standards based on International Confederation of Midwives (ICM)
competencies. However, not only further training is needed, they need to be posted in a
maternity unit to maintain their skills so therefore, creations of separate Midwifery posts are crucia
