This year marks the 100th founding anniversary of the International Confederation of Midwives.

Midwives are directly responsible for the lives and health of mothers and newborn babies.

It is unthinkable apart from midwives’ devoted efforts that children grow healthily and people lead a happy life.

The confederation set “100 years of progress!” as the theme of the International Day of the Midwife (May 5) for this year for the purpose of consolidating successes achieved in the past 100 years and ensuring that making coming another 100 years more significant to be celebrated by all people including midwives, women and newborn babies.

In the DPRK, midwives sincerely look after the life of pregnant women and nursing mothers and newborn babies while taking part in the relevant treatment together with obstetricians under the well-knit medical service system ranging from the capital to local areas. They conduct regular medical checkups of pregnant women and nursing mothers to confirm normal progress in pregnancy, detect dangerous signs, including complications and accessory symptoms, in their early stages and provide relevant proper medical service, prenatal education, health education and quality midwifery and postpartum care. And they find out women pregnant with triplets in time to guarantee their lives.

In April alone, the 522nd triplets were born in the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital and left it in good health.

The midwives’ devoted care for pregnant women and nursing mothers and their excellent practical ability help minimize the mortality of pregnant women, nursing mothers and newborn babies.

The country puts great effort into education for midwives.

Under the system for the education and training of midwives established from the capital to all provinces of the country, there are trained midwives who have acquired the theory of premature birth and relevant practical skills in line with the international standard. They specially get education in signs that can be found among abnormal pregnant women, including abnormal pregnancy, abnormal childbirth and gynaecological diseases, and contents of relevant care, and do various clinical simulation exercises and clinical practice under a scrupulous plan so as to cultivate qualifications and ability to proficiently cope with any premature birth by themselves.

The country enforces a policy of giving preferential treatment to midwives, widely introducing those who have worked in the public health sector for a long time, making devoted efforts for the life and health of women and newborn babies.