Safe Motherhood Day, observed on 28 May, was celebrated this year under the national theme of ‘নিরাপদ প্রসব চাই, স্বাস্থ্য কেন্দ্রে চল যাই’ which can be loosely translated as ‘For safe childbirth, let’s visit health centres’.
To observe the day, seven Academic Sites of Developing Midwives Project (OGSB in Dhaka, FIVDB and Shimantik in Sylhet, GBC-CHP in Mymensingh, HOPE Foundation in Cox’s Bazar, LAMB in Dinajpur, and PHD in Khulna) organised events throughout the day. Following directives from Directorate General of Health Services, they collaborated with local administration, government health professionals and the media in the celebratory efforts. Through popular folk media such as theatre and role plays, mass awareness was built around maternal healthcare and the important role a midwife plays in the life of the mother and the new-born.
In the ‘pop-ups’, final-year students from the Diploma in Midwifery education extended counselling on pre- and post-natal safety, family planning methods, and general wellbeing of the mother and child. Like the small-scale social media campaign carried out for International Day of the Midwife this year, the Developing Midwives Project initiated a similar campaign on Facebook to create mass awareness around midwifery, alongside the Academic Sites and midwives active on social media.