The National Higher Institute for Midwifery Training (INSFSF) organized, with the support of the United Nations Agency for Sexual and Reproductive Health (UNFPA), an orientation week for students of the first class of the South Pole of the Faculty of Midwives of Haiti, in Les Cayes (October 21 to 25)

Teachers will begin classes at this Faculty from October 28, informed Marie Judith Jeudy, Head of the Academic Affairs Department of the South Pole of the INSFSF.

This orientation week was an opportunity to present the INSFSF and its operation, the profession of midwife, the internal regulations of the Faculty, its role, its involvement as well as its curriculum based on the Competency-Based Approach (APC).

Midwifery training is a comprehensive training that integrates the different fields of practice of the profession. The midwife can, in fact, direct her career in areas such as:

- Reproductive Health;

- Maternity Care;

- Emergency Neonatal Obstetric Care;

- Public Health;

- Education.

This integration week for those admitted to the first class will facilitate the students' progress and their integration into the midwifery community, says Marie Judith Jeudy.

Orientation days were also organized for newly recruited Lecturers and Midwife Teachers on October 2nd and 3rd. The goal was to allow them to have a better understanding of their role and to prepare for the return of the students in the first cohort, according to Marie Judith Jeudy.

With a class of about 70 students including 10 men, the South Pole of the Midwifery Institute will allow these future professionals, like the other two poles, to acquire the skills necessary to be able to offer quality maternal and neonatal health care to the Haitian population at the end of their academic career.

Should be noted that Haiti is very far from the ratio advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO), i.e. 1 midwife for 5,000 inhabitants. Haiti has only 300 midwives and would need 2,200 to meet the sexual, maternal and reproductive health needs of more than 2.8 million women of childbearing age. Only 10% of these needs are covered.

The work of midwives today contributes to the reduction of the maternal and neonatal mortality rate. The maternal mortality rate has slightly decreased in 10 years, from 630 per 100,000 live births to 529 in 2017 (EMMUS VI). "This rate is more than 7 times higher than the international average set by the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030," said INSFSF Director Nadège Daudier.

HL/ HaitiLibre