International Day of the Midwife 2022: celebrating 100 years of progress

Each year on the 5th of May we celebrate International Day of the Midwife across the Western Sydney Local Health District.

This is a significant day of celebration for midwives everywhere, providing an opportunity for midwives to reflect on their work and achievements in collaborating with women and their families through pregnancy, birth and postnatal care.

In 2022, the theme of the celebration is the 100th anniversary of the International Confederation of Midwives: 100 years of progress.

This theme reflects the journey of midwives not only worldwide but locally in WSLHD where dynamic changes and considerable progress have been made.

“Our district has the highest number of births of any local health district or specialty network in NSW and we have implemented innovative models of midwifery led care that enable midwives to work in true collaboration with their multidisciplinary colleagues to support the provision of woman led and woman centred care,” said WSLHD director of nursing and midwifery Caroline Farmer.

“We are proud to offer continuity of midwifery led care, including publicly funded homebirth in western Sydney, pathways for privately practicing midwives to work with women during labour and birth at Westmead alongside specialised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander midwifery care through the Dragonfly model between Westmead and Blacktown hospitals, supported by Auburn Hospital.”

WSLHD midwives work within inpatient, outpatient, community and early parenting settings, often in a flexible model of collaborative or shared care, optimising the experience of local women so that they can birth close to home supported by contemporary and evidence-based models of care.

WSLHD midwifery managers and educators also work closely to refine service development and delivery, creating opportunities for models of care to be implemented to support choice and flexibility for all women across western Sydney.

“Underpinning this is a strong and vibrant midwifery research culture across WSLHD which is vital in translating the experience and voice of local women into clinical practice that benefits women now and into the future,” said Caroline.

“I’d like everyone to join me in wishing all midwives across western Sydney a very happy International Day of the Midwife.”