Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018;11(1):1489604.
doi: 10.1080/16549716.2018.1489604.

The development of a global Midwifery Education Accreditation Programme

Andrea Nove  1 , Sally Pairman  2 , Leah F Bohle  3 , Shantanu Garg  2 , Nester T Moyo  2 , Michaela Michel-Schuldt  4 , Axel Hoffmann  5 , Gonçalo Castro  3
Affiliations

The development of a global Midwifery Education Accreditation Programme

Andrea Nove et al. Glob Health Action. 2018.

Abstract

Background: Many countries are responding to the global shortage of midwives by increasing the student intake to their midwifery schools. At the same time, attention must be paid to the quality of education being provided, so that quality of midwifery care can be assured. Methods of assuring quality of education include accreditation schemes, but capacity to implement such schemes is weak in many countries.

Objective: This paper describes the process of developing and pilot testing the International Confederation of Midwives' Midwifery Education Accreditation Programme (ICM MEAP), based on global standards for midwifery education, and discusses the potential contribution it can make to building capacity and improving quality of care for mothers and their newborns.

Methods: A review of relevant global, regional and national standards and tools informed the development of a set of assessment criteria (which was validated during an international consultation exercise) and a process for applying these criteria to midwifery schools. The process was pilot tested in two countries: Comoros and Trinidad and Tobago.

Results: The assessment criteria and accreditation process were found to be appropriate in both country contexts, but both were refined after the pilot to make them more user-friendly.

Conclusion: The ICM MEAP has the potential to contribute to improving health outcomes for women and newborns by building institutional capacity for the provision of high-quality midwifery education and thus improved quality of midwifery care, via improved accountability for the quality of midwifery education.

Keywords: Midwifery regulation; accountability; higher education; maternal and newborn health; quality of care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Seven categories of assessment criteria. Source: ICM MEAP, adapted from IntraHealth School Management Improvement Framework [29].
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The ICM MEAP process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO Global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030. Geneva: WHO; 2016.
    1. UNFPA, WHO, ICM The state of the world’s midwifery 2014: A universal pathway. A woman’s right to health. New York: United Nations Population Fund; 2014.
    1. Van Lerberghe W, Matthews Z, Achadi E, et al. Country experience with strengthening of health systems and deployment of midwives in countries with high maternal mortality. Lancet. 2014;384:1215–10. - PubMed
    1. MEASURE Evaluation Bangladesh maternal mortality and health care survey 2016: summary [Internet]. 2018. [cited 2018 January 30]. Available from: https://www.measureevaluation.org/resources/publications/fs-17-245-en/.
    1. WHO Standards for improving quality of maternal and newborn care in health facilities. Geneva (Switzerland): WHO; 2016.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources