Commitment title:

Midwives reaffirm their commitments for equitable quality Sexual, Reproductive Maternal, Newborn and Child and Adolescent health outcomes.

Commitment description:

We, Midwifery Associations, health care providers, governments, Civil Society organizations, academia, private sectors, here at the closing of the International Confederation of Midwives Africa Conference, on 14 September 2019, Windhoek, Namibia, have endorsed the following commitments calling all our members to lead in advocating and implementing the right to access to quality sexual, reproductive maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health and rights.

· We recommit to the universal right to access comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care services.

· We commit to providing a safe, respectful, positive and healthy childbirth experience to all pregnant women.

· We commit that we protect women’s rights to be enabled to make a fully informed choice and are free from coercion.

· We commit to advocate for access to SRH services for adolescents.

· We commit to providing respectful, quality abortion-related services in line with the laws and policies of our countries.

· We commit to upholding every woman’s right to quality care from a midwife according to the International Confederation of Midwives Definition and Scope of Practice of a Midwife.

· We commit to inform and offer HIV and STI screenings to pregnant women and their partners and provide dignified and confidential care and treatment to both the mother and the baby.

· We commit to strongly advocate for enhanced national investment in improving the enabling and supportive environment for midwives to practice their profession.

Mode of engagement:
  • Policy and guidance
    See https://www.internationalmidwives.org/
Commitment to be actioned in: global
Submitted from: global
Submitted by
International Confederation of Midwives
Thematic area
Achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health as a part of universal health coverage (UHC)
Commitment category

(3) Zero preventable maternal deaths and maternal morbidities, such as obstetric fistulas, by, inter alia, integrating a comprehensive package of sexual and reproductive health interventions, including access to safe abortion to the full extent of the law, measures for preventing and avoiding unsafe abortions, and for the provision of post-abortion care, into national UHC strategies, policies and programmes, and to protect and ensure all individuals’ right to bodily integrity, autonomy and reproductive rights, and to provide access to essential services in support of these rights.