International Midwives' Day 2026

According to World Health Organisation data, about 300,000 women are dying every year from pregnancy-related causes, about 2 million newborn babies are dying shortly after birth and about 2.6 million pregnancies are ending in a dead fetus. Such mortality rates can be effectively reduced by maintaining appropriate measures for pregnant women and newborns.

In order to take action to improve the health of the population, International Midwives Day is celebrated every year to raise awareness of the role of midwives and to meet the growing needs of more midwives around the world.

International Midwives Day

The idea of celebrating International Midwives Day was born in the late 1980s at a conference of the International Confederation of Midwives in the Netherlands. For the first time, this day was celebrated on May 5th 1991 under the motto „Towards safe birth for all by the year 2000”. Since then, International Day of the Midwives has been celebrated in more than 50 countries around the world, with the involvement of the World Health Organization and the International Confederation of Midwives among others. In many countries, numerous events, conferences and celebrations with speeches by important delegates are organized on this day. The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics has taken a big step towards strengthening obstetrics worldwide. On this special day, it organizes a free virtual conference, during which various educational materials are presented, prepared by speakers from different parts of the world. It was first organized in 2008 and today it brings together the entire obstetrics community.

Did you know?

The term „midwife” comes from the English word „with” (mid) and „woman” (wif) and n the original version it meant „with a woman” i.e., a person who watches over her mother during childbirth The word „midwifes” is generally used in reference to midwives of both the female and male sexes.