“I think, the need during pregnancy, birth-giving, when you have an unintended pregnancy and the need for you to choose yourself when and if to have a family, is universal. And equal access to evidence-based care is a human right,” says Marie Klingberg-Allvin, who has spent the last fifteen years as a midwife and conducting research on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in low-resource settings.
In her keynote speech at the Nordic Midwifery Congress, Marie Klingberg-Allvin mentioned the fact that there are still 300,000 maternal deaths, 2.1 million newborn deaths, and 2.6 million stillbirths that occur every year. These deaths are preventable and if every woman had access to sexual and reproductive health care and services, including contraception and safe and legal abortion, and evidence-based maternal health care through a midwife and emergency obstetric care, most of these deaths could be prevented. Listen to her explain the linkages between midwives and human rights.
Girls’ Globe is at the NJF Congress in Gothenburg, Sweden. Follow the conversations here on girlsglobe.org and through the hashtag #midwives4all on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more through the following links:
