“I like providing support and care to patients,” says Rosa Lara de Forela, the subdirector of nursing at the Pedro de Bethancourt National Hospital in beautiful Antigua, Guatemala.
“If we want to stop these women and babies dying, we need to invest in skilled care,” declared Flavia Bustreo, assistant director-general of family and community health at the World Health Organization. Bustreo’s declaration came on the heels of the release of the WHO’s State of the World’s Midwifery 2011: Delivering Health, Saving Lives.
Entering a one-room health clinic in Cambodia’s Pursat Province, I saw a heavily pregnant woman suffering on the dirt floor. A midwife was the lone health worker staffing this rural post.