Old skills and new knowledge: midwifery in contemporary Zimbabwe
Conway-Turner, K.
Health Care for Women International 18(6): 565-574
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0739-9332 PMID: 9416040 DOI: 10.1080/07399339709516312Document Number: 557194
Since the early 1980s, midwives in Zimbabwe have been enrolled in a 1-week training program focused on normal and high-risk childbirth. In 1992, 61 trained rural midwives (mean age, 59.9 years) from the Ndebele ethnic group in southern Zimbabwe were interviewed about changes in their practice resulting from the training. The majority of respondents (96.7%) indicated they had learned midwifery skills from their mother, grandmother, or grandmother-in-law. Training-related changes reported included increased understanding of the importance of a hygienic environment for delivery, attempts to work with pregnant women early in their pregnancies rather than only after labor had started, referral of potential high-risk births to the clinic, collaboration with clinic nurses, and institution of record keeping. The training program has enabled midwives to maintain harmless traditional practices (e.g., the ritual burying of the placenta) while abandoning those that are unhygienic (e.g., placing cow dung around the mother and newborn). About 50-60% of all practicing traditional midwives in Zimbabwe have participated in this training.