Step 4b. Portfolio Task

Task 1 Traditional Midwives- What can a modern midwife learn from her?

Introduction
Since many years ago,  traditional birth attendants (TBA) have been attending to pregnant women during childbirth in Malawi. These traditional midwives are usually old women who have experienced birth themselves. They are famous for providing good quality care, despite not having undergone any formal training. Some people have attributed the traditional midwives fame to the fact that they live in the same community with their clients. As a result they do not feel threatened because the environment is familiar to them. These are people they interact with on a day to day basis and they therefore develop trust in them.

While as traditional birth attendants may have the experience in the job and indeed the trust of their clientele; they surely lack the requisite knowledge. This is why government and other organisations advocate hospital delivery. In spite of all efforts to attract pregnant women to come to the hospitals, there still remains a strong belief in traditional midwives.

In order to encourage women to give birth at health institutions, the Malawi government has of late developed a policy that prevents TBAs from assisting women during childbirth. It is amazing to see that the majority of women defy this policy and still seek help from the TBA. One wonders why that is so. Is there anything that the student midwife can learn from the traditional midwife to attract more women? What is the secret? Let’s find out! ...