What We’re Doing at ICM to Mark World Health Worker Week (#WHWW)

Join ICM in Marking World Health Worker Week + World Health Day
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is sweeping the world, but women are still pregnant, and babies are still being born. The effects of the Coronavirus on the health system and working conditions of midwives are worrisome. The sheer volume of work, aggravated by a lack of PPE and the many uncertainties about the virus itself, presents a risk for midwives (and others), feeling overwhelmed, burned-out or simply scared. During the upcoming World Health Worker Week (April 5 – 11), we will be promoting, through various initiatives, the work of midwives on the frontline of COVID-19 as a way to bring attention to the persistent challenges they face even without the immense burden of a global pandemic.
Here’s what we’re doing during this World Health Worker Week and on World Health Day to honour and promote midwives around the word:
- Because it’s #YearOfTheNurseMidwife, this World Health Day (April 7) is even more significant for midwives and our colleagues in nursing. For this reason, we’ve partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO), Nursing Now, International Confederation of Nurses, and UNFPA to create a campaign designed to bring awareness to the life-saving work or our healthcare professionals during this global pandemic. To download the campaign assets (posters, social media squares, etc.) and to learn more about the current barriers facing the world’s midwives and nurses, visit the World Health Day page on the WHO’s website.
- To support our Member Associations and midwives globally, ICM will hold virtual regional meetings throughout next week (April 7 – 9), to hear from our members about their concerns and experiences, and for members to connect with each other. The meetings will be held using the Zoom application and will be moderated by ICM Head Office staff and the Regional Board members. Each member association is invited to join with two representatives. Here, you will find a schedule and a link to the meetings per regions. There are also instructions on how to use Zoom. The meetings will be recorded so that we can share relevant information from each region among our members.
- We’re working on re-launching the Covid-19 resource page on our website and hope to have it ready by Sunday, April 5th. This page will be dedicated to providing midwives, maternal health care provides, mothers, pregnant women, and their communities with up-to-date Coronavirus information, relevant to their needs and experiences. Until then, please reference our existing Covid-19 resource page.
- On April 7th, our very own Young Midwife Leader, Neha Mankani, will be interviewed on Facebook Live by the Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros regarding Neha’s experience managing the Coronavirus pandemic in her home country of Pakistan. Here are the details of the Facebook Live conversation:
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- Tuesday, 7 April: 14h30 – 15h15 (CEST)
- View on: WHO Facebook page or other WHO social media