Wednesday, the First Lady, Sophia Martelly, accompanied by among others Florence Duperval Guillaume, Minister of Health and Paula Caldwell, Ambassador of Canada in Haiti, participated in the ceremony of laying the first stone of the Higher National Institute of Midwives Training on the site of the former National school of Nursing, located next to the General hospital in the Street Monseigneur Guilloux "the professional midwives are important and necessary in the accompaniment of women from pregnancy to childbirth," said the First Lady.

Canada, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (MAECD) mandated the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) for the reconstruction of the institute which was destroyed in the earthquake of January 2010. Funded to the tune of $5 million by the Canadian government, the new institute with an area of just over 1,000 m2, which will accommodate 160 students, will include among others 4 classrooms, 2 practical work rooms, 1 documentation center equipped with 30 computers and dormitories with a total capacity of 16 beds.

Recalling that only 36% of Haitian women have given birth by trained staff and 25% are given birth in the specialized institutions, the Minister of Health believes that his ministry should have at least 600 midwives "With only 250 midwives, we are not yet able to meet the needs of every day [...] That is what explains the importance we have given since last year in the training of women and girls by giving them a 18 to 36 months-training to significantly reduce maternal mortality in the country [... ] the reconstruction of the national school of midwifery a step, so that woman be delivered by qualified personnel."

This new establishment of vocational education, will train about 70 midwives per year for the whole country.

S/ HaitiLibre