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Ignorance about midwives holds back home births

In a country where there is no concept of home birth, there is a growing interest about alternative delivery methods, said Dr Grace Edwards, Midwifery Research and Development Specialist at Al Wasl Hospital who conducted a study about midwives among pregnant women.

“Though this generation does not know about midwives, their mothers have apt knowledge,” she told Khaleej Times after presenting a paper at the third Midwifery conference in Dubai on Wednesday.

Her three-month long study questioned 368 women from 27 nationalities who gave birth at Dubai’s busiest maternity hospital, Al Wasl. Nearly 50 per cent of the respondents were Emirati women.

Over 60 per cent of Emiratis, who were asked if they knew who a midwife was, said they did not. Other statements in the study included “There are no midwives in Dubai”, “Only a doctor can deliver my baby”.

Cultural values and family ties also prevent women from seeking help from midwives, explained Dr Grace. Over 56 per cent of Emirati women said yes to the statement “My family will not be happy if a midwife delivered by baby”.

“From expatriate women, we got responses such as “At home, a midwife is common but not in Dubai and I only trust a doctor,” she said.

However, before the concept of home births can be promoted in Dubai, the number of professionals has to increase, she said. At Al Wasl Hospital the number of midwives has increased from seven to 15 after 23 nurses completed a programme in February to become the first batch of fully qualified midwives in Dubai. Among them, only one is an Emirati.

She said there is no local public research on the profession. “Midwives are also invisible in laws and regulations. We need more education, knowledge and staff to run successful natural birthing programmes,” said Dr Grace. Over 21,000 children are born in Dubai annually of which 7,000 alone are born in Al Wasl Hospital.

The hospital is, however, setting up a midwife-led antenatal clinic that will hold parental classes. Plans are also on to carry out post-natal community visits. “The arrangements are flexible for since we want to give all options. Even during deliveries, some women prefer that their husbands to attend the birth while others do not,” she added.

A batch of newly graduated students who were felicitated by the Minister of Health Dr Hanif Hassan at the conference said that they wanted to provide culturally appropriate services to the UAE within a hospital system. “We want to tell women, natural birth is safe and cost effective,” they said.

Earlier, while inaugurating the conference titled “Natural birth: Top 10 tips for midwives” the minister said there was an urgent need to encourage Emiratis to enrol in the fields of midwifery and nursing. The ministry recently tied up with Higher Colleges of Technology to expand nursing education in the three federal institutes of nursing in Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah. The agreement will begin with the academic year 2010/2011 and is expected to raise the number of qualified nurses in the country.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com

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