14 My experience as a midwife during three years of emergency and war

Speaker: Renad Salem

Facilitator(s):  Khadija Mouhtassine

Abstract:

For three years, I worked as a midwife in a continuous emergency environment directly impacted by war. Every day, I faced unprecedented challenges in providing safe care for pregnant women and newborns. Amidst frequent bombings, power and water outages, and severe shortages of medicines and medical supplies, every birth became an experience demanding rapid decisions, constant innovation, and immense professional and human resilience.

 In this presentation, I share my personal experience providing maternity care in extremely dangerous circumstances, where the challenges were not only medical but also psychological and humanitarian. I witnessed the fear of women in labor, the anxiety of families, and the constant strain on healthcare staff working with extremely limited resources. I also encountered situations requiring critical clinical decisions in the absence of essential resources,  and the need to resort to emergency alternatives to save the lives of mothers and newborns.

 I will demonstrate how I learned to adapt to these conditions by prioritizing clinical needs, working collaboratively, providing psychological support to women, and developing practical solutions to ensure the continuity of care despite the repeated collapse of health services. This experience reflects the reality of maternal care in conflict contexts,  and highlights the vital role of midwives in protecting life and human dignity even in the most fragile and dangerous circumstances.

Time in your location : https://bit.ly/VIDM26-session-14