KABUL, Afghanistan — As the world marks the International Day of the Midwife under the 2025 theme “Midwives: Critical in Every Crisis,” the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has renewed its call for global investment in midwifery, warning that the denial of education for Afghan women is deepening the country’s maternal health crisis.
In a statement issued Sunday, Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA, praised the lifesaving work of midwives in conflict zones and refugee camps. He cited the delivery of baby Obada — the 3,000th child born without complications at a UN-supported clinic in Jordan’s Za’atari Syrian refugee camp — as a testament to midwives’ critical role.
“Today and every day, we need to close the gaps in providing universal sexual and reproductive, maternal and newborn health care,” Osotimehin said. He emphasized that skilled midwives could provide up to 87 percent of essential care for women and newborns and urged greater investment in midwifery education and services.
But the celebration of midwives’ work comes at a time when access to maternal health care in Afghanistan is deteriorating sharply. The Taliban, who returned to power in 2021, have barred women and girls from studying midwifery and other medical sciences — a move condemned by global health bodies.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which commemorated the day by honoring Afghan midwives, warned of the consequences. The organization currently employs around 200 midwives in Afghanistan and reported assisting with more than 45,000 births in the past year.
“This ban not only violates the rights of Afghan women but also threatens the collapse of the country’s health system,” the World Health Organization said in an earlier statement. “The absence of trained female health workers in a country where gender norms often restrict access to male practitioners puts thousands of mothers and newborns at risk.”
In rural areas, the shortage of midwives is already proving deadly. Expectant mothers in remote regions often face long and perilous journeys to reach hospitals — journeys some do not survive. During a recent visit to Kunduz, Tom Fletcher, the U.N.’s Deputy Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said some women are dying en route to care due to the lack of accessible medical services.
UNFPA has supported midwifery in over 70 countries, helping train more than 15,000 midwives globally and funding over 250 midwifery schools. In 2014, the organization helped launch midwifery bachelor’s programs in countries including Afghanistan, a move that contributed to an 80 percent drop in maternal mortality since 2002. That progress, experts warn, is now at risk of being undone.
As the international community prepares for the next phase of the global development agenda, UNFPA says midwives must be at the center of strategies to reduce maternal deaths, particularly in crisis settings like Afghanistan.
“The future we want is one where midwives play their full role in ensuring safe deliveries, promoting healthy birth spacing, and protecting the health and rights of women and girls,” said Osotimehin. “This is not just a health issue — it’s a human rights imperative.”
