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In every crisis, midwives stand strong; so must our support for them
View(s):“I’ve devoted 35 years to midwifery. I visit homes, check on expectant mothers, ensure they are healthy, their newborns are safe, and guide young couples on reproductive health. These mothers depend on me, and I go where I’m needed. That’s my duty.”
– G.P.D. Padmakanthi, Public Health Midwife, Magastota Estate,
Nuwara Eliya
Padmakanthi’s words stay with us. They remind us of the quiet strength that powers Sri Lanka’s health system from the grassroots. This year, as we marked the International Day of the Midwife (May 5) on the theme ‘Midwives: Critical in Every Crisis’, UNFPA Sri Lanka, together with our partners, was here to honour that strength. Not just in words, but in action.
Midwives: A lifeline for mothers across Sri Lanka
From remote communities to urban clinics, Public Health Midwives (PHM) across Sri Lanka are collectively holding together the most intimate threads of life, ensuring that women and newborns survive and thrive, even under the harshest conditions. They are more than mere healthcare providers. They are the first line of responders, especially in times of crisis and distress, standing by mothers as they welcome life.
Sri Lanka’s 8,000+ strong midwifery workforce remains on the frontline despite a multitude of challenges, offering more than medical care. They offer reassurance for mothers, education for young girls and couples, and protection and dignity for all women. At times, they are counsellors, and at other times, they are anchors holding communities together. They are often the first and sometimes the only trusted healthcare workers women see throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care, entrusted with their most intimate details.
From serving during the civil conflict to navigating the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and the multi-dimensional crisis that followed to reaching mothers during natural disasters like floods and landslides, midwives have been on the frontlines through every crisis. Despite limited infrastructure, low pay, growing workloads, and shrinking resources, they continue to serve with unwavering dedication. Their critical contributions have been central to reducing maternal mortality by way of providing postpartum family planning services, counselling for newly married couples, supporting pregnant women, and caring for new mothers and their newborn babies.
Standing by our midwives
At UNFPA Sri Lanka, we see these challenges, and we respond. In 2024 alone, with steadfast support from the Government of Japan and other partners, over 1,000 midwives and midwifery trainers across ten districts benefitted from targeted capacity building to strengthen maternal and newborn care, as well as family planning. From training on respectful maternity care and labour management to digitised systems that improve service delivery, we’re helping midwives not just do their jobs, but do them better, safer, and with greater dignity.
Midwives played a crucial role in many crises Sri Lanka experienced in recent years
UNFPA Sri Lanka has also assisted in establishing solar-powered maternity centres in Nuwara Eliya and Puttalam, ensuring that when the power goes out, vital maternal and neonatal care doesn’t stop. These facilities are expected to benefit over 24,000 mothers and infants, serving as a model for climate-resilient healthcare in Sri Lanka. Through initiatives like the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) Readiness Assessment, we have trained over 720 healthcare workers, including midwives, preparing our midwifery services to withstand emergencies, from natural disasters like floods to public health crises like the COVID pandemic, so that no woman is left behind when systems falter.
Ensuring that midwives receive comprehensive, hands-on training is key to strengthening maternal health systems across Sri Lanka. With the generous support of the Government of Japan, UNFPA has been working closely with the Ministry of Health to enhance training facilities like the Provincial Health Training Centres in Batticaloa, Mahamodara, and Narahenpita, a vital step in capacity building of healthcare workers across Sri Lanka.
Our joint support for midwifery education for this centre includes provision of a fully furnished computer unit and other infrastructure. With aspiring trainee midwives arriving from every corner of the country, the public health midwifery courses offered at these centres stand as a model of inclusive, equitable, and transformative midwifery education, a critical investment in the future of maternal and newborn care.
Japan’s commitment: Empowering midwives, safeguarding futures
Japan has recognised the critical role that midwives play in safeguarding the health and dignity of women and their families, particularly in times of crisis. With the concept of human security as one of the major pillars of its foreign policy, the Government of Japan has remained a steadfast partner in strengthening Sri Lanka’s midwifery workforce.
Through targeted investments in collaboration with UNFPA Sri Lanka, Japan has been supporting the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure that lifesaving care reaches women in the most remote and vulnerable communities. This commitment reflects the broader vision that empowering midwives is not only about delivering babies; it’s about delivering dignity, resilience, and hope to the people of Sri Lanka.
Investing in midwives is investing in resilience
As per global data, midwives can deliver 90% of essential sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health services, yet they make up just 10% of the global workforce. This gap is not just a statistic; it’s a call to action. By 2023, conflict-affected and fragile settings accounted for 61% of global maternal deaths. In Sri Lanka, where climate extremes, ageing populations, and economic pressures test our systems, we cannot afford to overlook the backbone of maternal healthcare. Every dollar invested in midwives yields up to 16 times its value in health and social returns.
What we need now is urgency. To expand training. To increase salaries. To ensure supplies, safety, and support. To recognise midwives not just as caretakers, but as crisis responders, innovators, and agents of change.
As we celebrate the midwives of Sri Lanka this May, we are not merely honouring a profession; we are reaffirming the promise that no mother should give birth alone. That every newborn should be welcomed into this world with care and compassion. Every midwife who shows up, day after day, is not alone in delivering their mission. We stand with them, every step of the way.
In every crisis, midwives stand strong. It’s time we stood just as firmly beside them.
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