IT is expected that there will be midwives available from Level One health facilities in the country to serve mothers and the babies where they are, Health Minister Hon. Elias Kapavore says.
The minister made this statement following the commemoration of International Day of Midwife in Port Moresby yesterday.
May 05th marks International Day of the Midwife—an opportunity to recognize the critical role midwives play in delivering essential care to women, newborns, and families.
This year’s theme is: “One Million More Midwives”.
“We will ensure that midwives are available from Level One health facilities,” Minister Kapavore said.
“Previously, this was called Aid Posts, where you have only one Community Health Worker serving.
“Under the current health care standards, the name has been changed to ‘Health Posts’ with three or four health workers. One of them must be a nursing officer, preferably a midwife,” the Minister further said.
“This is based on the National Health Policy to improve basic health access to our citizens -leaving no one behind. With the current well-defined primary health infrastructure, PNG is generally on track to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030,” he said.
Midwives deliver the majority of essential sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, and adolescent health (SRMNAH) services. They help ensure women receive safe, high-quality care before, during, and after pregnancy—and they are critical members of our health workforce.
In Papua New Guinea, there are five tertiary institutions that provide Midwifery training. The country has more than 1600 registered midwives.
“We should acknowledge this progress: over the last decade, PNG has significantly increased our capacity to train skilled, competent midwives to support safe births.”
However, the Health Minister said there is still a shortfall of 5000 more midwives needed in the country.
He further noted that despite that, the maternal mortality has reduced from 900 per 100,000 births in 1997 to 118 per 100,000 in 2024.
“Our child mortality has reduced to 33 per 1000 for babies born before reaching the first 12 months,” he said.
“We acknowledged and honor the work of midwives in our country, with many serving in different work environment and geography.”
Minister Kapavore emphasized that the Marape-Rosso Government has increased health budget to more than K3billion this year with focus on recruitment of more than 10,000 workforce with budget appropriations of more than K800 million.
He further commended the PNG Midwifery Society for the leadership, while making special acknowledgment to Australian Government for supporting Midwifery training with estimated 100 postgraduates every year.
“I urge all PHAs to ensure Midwifery training becomes mandatory as other cadre of health workers in their career pathways/training plan,” the Minister said.