An article from the Christian Science Monitor featured on Yahoo news reports on the relief agencies which have come to Darfur: “It’s one of the cruel ironies of the Darfur conflict, which has entered its fifth year, that it took a deadly war… for many Darfuris to receive the first adequate healthcare of their lives.”

Darfuri women and children, who make up 80% of refugees, at refugee camps have some access not only to the medical care provided by agencies such as Relief International, but also to midwife training. The maternal mortality rate and infant mortality rate is very high in Sudan, and the presence of more trained midwives is one sensible and practical step towards reduce this.

Despite what seems to be a fairly obvious need for such skills, training has been resisted in the past, but is now more widely accepted and is also encouraged by the government. In addition to the health benefits which trained midwives can provide to women giving birth and babies, it can also give the midwives themselves financial independence and a position of respect in the community.

And communities throughout Sudan are taking notice:
“Samia Hassan, a reproductive health officer with UNFPA in Khartoum, says that midwives have become so valuable in Sudanese society that villages that cannot afford to train one have sent their men out to marry midwives from other villages and bring them home.”