TODAY, THE 5TH OF MAY, WE ARE CELEBRATING THE INTERNATIONAL MIDWIVES DAY!!! TODAY THE INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF MIDWIFE, WHICH BEGAN AS THE INTERNATIONAL MIDWIFE UNION IN BELGIUM, TURNS A CENTURY OLD. WHAT BETTER THEME FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF MIDWIFE THAN ‘100 YEARS OF PROGRESS’’? SINCE 2008, WHEN THE GLOBAL MIDWIFERY PROGRAM WAS ESTABLISHED BY THE ICM, WHICH REPRESENT MORE THAN 1 MILLION MIDWIVES WORLDWIDE, UNFAPA HAS SUPPORTED THE WORKS OF MIDWIVES IN MORE THAN 120 COUNTRIES. WE’VE SEEN THEM PERFORM THEIR DUTIES IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE, HELPING WOMEN SAFELY GIVE BIRTH AS ELECTRICITY FLICKERED FLOODWATERS ROSE, MIDWIVES HAVE PUT THEIR LIVES AT RISK HELPING EXPECTANT MOTHERS DURING THE COVID PANDEMIC AND THE EBOLA OUTBREAKS, THEY’VE TURNED THEIR HOMES, (WHERE 50 PER CENT OF HEALTH FACILITIES ARE OPERATIONAL ) INTO MAKESHIFT MATERNITY WARES, PROVIDED CARE TO REFUGEES (JUST AS WE SEE IN THE RUSSIA AD UKRAINE WAR), AND WORKED UNDER THREAT OF MILITANT GROUPS (LIKE IN MAIDUGURI , A NORTHERN STATE IN NIGERIA WEST AFRICA FACING TERRORISM).