Midwives on frontline of childbirth deaths crisis denied visas for key summit

Summary

Outcry as experts from African and Asian countries – where mortality is highest – prevented from attending Portugal conference on prevention Visa rejections have threatened progress on mother and baby health after experts from struggling countries were barred from talks, global midwife leaders have said. Politicians, donors and UN agencies convened this week at the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) congress in Lisbon, Portugal, a key conference to discuss the millions of avoidable mother and baby deaths every year. But last-minute visa refusals meant eminent midwives from Africa and Asia – where the majority of lives are lost – were excluded. Urgent appeals were lodged for delegates from countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, India and Indonesia. ICM advisor Kate Stringer said: “These midwives are leaders working in countries that bear the highest burden of deaths. “A mother dies every two minutes due to pregnancy or birth. How are we going to intervene if the researchers and professors at the heart of it are banned? “This defies logic. With her work at the NGO Mother Health International, Akello helps overwhelmed public maternity centres pivot to WHO standards, operating in a remote post-conflict region near the border with South Sudan, 95km (60 miles) from a referral hospital. Akello said, “The world’s policymakers are in Lisbon, yet here I am in Uganda, trying to explain to an embassy why I should have the right to travel. Good quality midwives are a key solution – yet only I got a visa.” Stringer called this “gender inequity laid bare”. Portugal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said visa assessments happened “rigorously, objectively and factually” in line with Schengen rules.