Document Type
Article
Department
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Pakistan
Abstract
Midwifery is a new profession in Bangladesh. Diploma-prepared midwives were first deployed in 2018. Recent studies suggest that newly qualified midwives in Bangladesh may not be able to fully perform their midwifery role due to a number of complex factors. This paper describes a pilot study of a midwifery audit undertaken in 2019 by the Bangladesh Midwifery Society, supported by the Royal College of Midwives. These two organisations are in a formal twinning partnership funded by UNFPA Bangladesh with support from UK-Aid, Sweden and Canada. The audit was successful in improving the quality of midwifery care and addressing health system challenges. It enabled midwifery leadership development and gender empowerment and built capacity for auditing practice and for advocating for midwives’ roles. It also deepened midwives’ engagement with their professional association. Further research is required to understand whether this tool should be scaled up across Bangladesh and/or adapted for other contexts.
Recommended Citation
Khatun, A, Jhumu, M A, Gregson, S, & Kemp, J. Developing and piloting a midwifery audit tool in Bangladesh’s upazila health complexes (UHCs). Journal of Asian Midwives. 2020;7(1):7–22.
