Simulator-supported normal birth training for 10 thousand midwives

Deputy Director General of Public Hospitals of the Ministry of Health, Asibe Özkan, stated in her statement that midwifery is a professional health profession that is as old as world history and fundamentally concerns public health.

Özkan emphasized that maternal and child health services are of great importance in terms of health indicators of countries and said, "Today, our country's fertility rate is below the 2.13 level, which is accepted as the population renewal rate. This clearly reveals the inevitable fact of strengthening midwifery services in our country and expanding continuous midwifery care during pregnancy, birth and postpartum processes."

Stating that the expansion of midwife-centered pregnancy care is more important than ever, Özkan said, "We continue our work to increase the training, authority and field support of our midwives. In this regard, practices have been implemented to ensure that every woman is monitored by a midwife during pregnancy; the duties, authorities and responsibilities of midwives have been expanded and these areas of authority have been clearly defined."

Özkan, emphasizing that a historic step has been taken for the midwifery profession in Türkiye, reminded that definitions such as "responsible midwife", "guide midwife" and "midwife with an authorization certificate" were introduced into the legislation with Türkiye's first Midwifery Regulation published in December 2024.

4,700 midwives received training

Asibe Özkan stated that the studies on strengthening midwifery practices in normal birth processes continue within the scope of the "Natural Normal Birth Action Plan" and that within this scope, a midwife accompanying each pregnant woman one-on-one is supported.

Özkan stated that midwives undertake roles supporting natural birth in delivery rooms and that for this purpose, simulator-supported training programs have been initiated in 81 provinces in cooperation with midwife academics and midwife trainers, and noted the following:

"We have trained nearly 4,700 midwife colleagues in these trainings to date. Trainings for midwives working in maternity wards of public, university and private hospitals throughout Turkey will be provided with academic support by the end of the year. We plan to train nearly 10,000 midwives by the end of this year. We have 2 days of practical training at the end of our midwifery training. We aim to transfer current information supporting the normal birth process through practical trainings conducted with simulator models."