Skilled midwives, with the equipment and support they need, can spell the difference between life and death for close to 300,000 women each year, and ten times that many infants.

On this International Day of the Midwife, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, and the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), celebrate the work of midwives in contributing to the miracle of birth—and for the myriad other things they do every day to contribute to the wellbeing of mothers and children around the world. The tireless work of midwives is also a crucial step towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, targets A and B, by 2015 and beyond.

Midwives in the Kyrgyz Republic