Bangladesh to champion midwifery, primary health care at UN General Assembly
Bangladesh puts midwifery at the heart of its UN health agenda
Bdbusinessdaily.com – Bangladesh is preparing to use the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly to press for a stronger global focus on professional midwifery and community-based primary health care. On 24 September in New York, the country will co-host a high-level gathering aimed at accelerating efforts to prevent maternal and newborn deaths that can be avoided through timely, skilled care.
The event, to be held at UN Headquarters, will be jointly hosted by Bangladesh and Sweden in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Its theme is “From Commitment to Action: Integrating Midwifery into Primary Health Care to End Preventable Maternal and Newborn Deaths.”
At the centre of the discussion will be the role of trained midwives in helping women and newborns receive care close to home. The programme is expected to examine how midwifery can support safer pregnancies, respectful childbirth and continuing care for mothers and babies while also helping countries move faster towards Universal Health Coverage.
A prevention-focused health model
Bangladesh will present an argument for health systems that give more weight to prevention and local services, instead of relying mainly on treatment after illness develops or on hospital-based care. This approach places frontline health workers and primary health facilities at the first point of contact for families.
For maternal and newborn health, that means ensuring women can access skilled support throughout pregnancy, during delivery and in the period following childbirth. It also means linking communities to a health workforce that can recognise risks early, provide appropriate care and guide patients to higher-level facilities when necessary.
The government’s position is that better community services, healthier pregnancies and safe delivery arrangements are essential to lowering preventable deaths among mothers and newborns. Professional midwives are expected to be a major part of that effort because their work connects reproductive, maternal and newborn health needs with the wider primary health care system.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is scheduled to address the gathering. He will outline Bangladesh’s ambition to develop a health system that is more equitable, resilient and centred on people under the government’s “Susyasther Bangladesh” initiative.
“From Commitment to Action: Integrating Midwifery into Primary Health Care to End Preventable Maternal and Newborn Deaths”
Sweden will give the opening remarks, reflecting the countries’ long-standing collaboration on strengthening professional midwifery. Their joint leadership at the UN event is intended to draw attention to the practical policy choices needed to turn high-level commitments into services that reach families.
Plan for 25,000 professional midwifery posts
A central national commitment is the establishment of 25,000 professional midwifery posts across Bangladesh. The proposed expansion is designed to reinforce maternal and newborn care, widen skilled employment opportunities for women and build a more capable workforce at the front line of the health system.
The significance of such a workforce extends beyond delivery rooms. When midwives are effectively educated, deployed and retained, they can become a consistent source of support for women during pregnancy and after birth. Their presence within primary health care can also help make care more accessible to people living far from major hospitals.
Creating posts alone, however, is only one element of an effective midwifery system. The UN discussion will also consider the conditions that allow professionals to remain in service, including quality education, supportive regulation, sustainable financing and meaningful leadership roles within national health structures.
These issues matter because workforce planning is not simply about the total number of health workers. It is also about where they are located, whether they have the skills and resources to do their jobs, and whether health systems can retain them over time. Bangladesh intends to highlight midwifery as an integral part of both primary health care and the wider pursuit of Universal Health Coverage.
International dialogue on practical action
Health ministers and senior representatives from Asia, Africa and other regions are expected to attend, alongside leaders from UN agencies, development partners, philanthropic bodies, civil society groups and the private sector. Ministers from Mexico, Nepal, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand are expected to take part in a ministerial dialogue.
That conversation will focus on strengthening primary health care through professional midwifery. It offers countries with different health systems an opportunity to consider common challenges: how to fund frontline care, how to place trained workers where they are most needed, and how to keep those workers in the profession.
A separate presentation and panel discussion will look at ways governments can convert political pledges into lasting investment in midwives and other frontline personnel. Dr S M Ziauddin Hyder, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Affairs, will lead the panel.
Its agenda will include financing, deployment and retention of professional midwives. Those areas are closely connected: training cannot achieve its purpose if workers are not placed where communities can reach them, while deployment cannot be sustained without support, career opportunities and reliable investment.
Building a broader global movement
Bangladesh’s objective reaches beyond domestic reform. By bringing the issue to the UN General Assembly, the country hopes to encourage a wider rethinking of how health systems are organised and financed. The underlying message is that investment should prioritise keeping people healthy, preventing avoidable illness and death, and providing high-quality care nearer to where people live.
This does not diminish the importance of hospitals or specialised treatment. Rather, it emphasises that many health needs can be addressed earlier and more effectively when primary health care is sufficiently strong. For mothers and newborns, accessible, respectful and skilled care can be especially important at moments when delays may create serious consequences.
The meeting is expected to seek renewed international commitments in several areas: stronger policy and regulatory frameworks, high-quality education, improved workforce deployment and retention, and greater opportunities for professional midwives to lead within national health systems.
By placing midwifery prominently in the UN conversation on primary health care, Bangladesh will argue that protecting mothers and newborns should be understood as a foundation of fairer and more durable health systems. The initiative presents maternal and newborn care not as an isolated intervention, but as a central part of a prevention-oriented model that can serve communities more effectively worldwide.
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