The Daily Star talked to Ms. Shuraiya Begum, Registrar of the Bangladesh Nursing Council, regarding some core issues. The excerpt is produced here.

Today is the 5th May International Day of Midwife and the theme is "Women and New Born the Heart of Midwifery", can you please give some insight about the women and new born health status in Bangladesh?

Shuraiya Begum: A new born baby is the heart to the midwives. They get a heavenly pleasure when it is born and they forget the pain she gets. As I am also a midwife and practiced it for a long time at home and abroad (As a Midwife she served in the medical institutions of Saudi Arabia for 10 years) I feel it better than others. Now, for some limitations I cannot continue the practice. I think every midwife feels as I feel. So mother and new born baby are the priority to the midwives. Health status of the women and new born in Bangladesh is satisfactory. You know, our Prime Minister got South-South Award for fulfilling the target of health. I think competitively our progress is better.

Bangladesh Government is committed to reducing Maternal Mortality below 70/100000 live birth by 2030, in this respect can quality midwife contribute to the reduction of Maternal mortality In Bangladesh?

Shuraiya Begum: Look, if we can produce skilled midwives, it is possible to achieve the goal before the targeted time. But in reality we are facing some challenges. Our midwives must have ability to face those challenges. We need to create proper environment to acquire the skill for practicing midwifery. In our country there exists a common psychology that caesarean delivery is only safe way for child birth. But few know that pregnancy is a very common physiological matter and it is very normal scenario all over the world. We should think of the alternatives only for some emergency cases like jaundice, diabetes, hypertension and over-weight baby. Otherwise we need not go for caesar. For the extreme case to save the life of a baby and its mother, we need to go for it. But it is seen that just for getting relief from labor pain our pregnant mothers often go for caesar. You know, even in the first world countries 80% of delivery takes place normally and 10-15% can be caesarean birth. But in

Bangladesh It is the opposite scenario. So I think it is also a challenge for us.

As per commitment of Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the government has already created 3000 midwifery posts and among them 600 have already been deployed. The newly deployed midwives need enabling conditions at the facility and community level to provide quality service, how the enabling environment can be ensured?

Shuraiya Begum: I appreciate our PM's initiatives and it is very good news for our women. I also appreciate that our government has also arranged for 4 Midwives in every Upazilla Health Complex and 1 in every local union. But there are some barriers which our midwives are facing now. Bed-setting is not prepared yet for the midwives. So how can they render services properly? They should be given the support whenever they need. So from the policy level these initiatives must be considered.

I personally request that the donor agencies should come forward regarding this sensitive issue. We know that the donor agencies are not the decision makers or core organisations, they are just supporting body. But they should be given the opportunity for setting up necessary mechanism in every Union Parishad level. I think our government is very much helpful and cooperative in this regard and I hope the donor agencies and our government will sit for it and come to a decision of joint venture regarding the midwives.