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Midwife

Christine, a Kenyan midwife leads the maternity services in MSF primary health centres in Jamtoli and Hakimpara, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Caption
Christine, a Kenyan midwife leads the maternity services in MSF primary health centres in Jamtoli and Hakimpara, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

As a midwife with MSF your experience in both complicated and normal deliveries will be essential.

From visiting expectant mums deep in the jungle to training birth attendants in busy maternity departments in big hospital settings, our midwives are a vital part of most project teams.

Responsibilities

As a Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) midwife you'll work in both health centres and conduct outreach work in the community.

No matter what the context - natural disasters, conflicts or poverty-affected communities - babies will continue to be born and midwives will always be needed.

It's a challenging and rewarding role and you'll be responsible for some or all of the following: 

  • Pre- and post-delivery care
  • Deliveries, often complicated
  • Care of survivors of sexual violence
  • Setting up maternity departments in new health centres/hospitals
  • Working with community birth attendants to ensure safe community birthing practices
  • Running awareness programs in the community
  • Training local midwives
  • On-call care, often 24 hours

As a midwife with MSF, your experience in both complicated and normal deliveries will be essential.

You could be involved in setting up a mother-child health department in a rural clinic, providing reproductive health care from mobile clinics or treating patients in an urban hospital.

Your training skills will be crucial because you may be assigned to help traditional birth attendants develop new skills.

At the same time, you will need to learn from the women you treat to understand cross-cultural issues surrounding childbirth.

The tiny cramped compound is always buzzing with children's cries and laughter. There, we treat and fix almost anything and everything. Malaria (mostly), flu, broken bones, cuts, pneumonia... you name it!

ALICE GAUTREAU
|
Midwife

Application guide

Read our guide on the application process for all overseas roles

Role requirements

  • Valid Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) or Irish Nursing Board registration
  • Two year's post-qualification experience
  • Experience in supervising, managing and training others
  • Experience of obstetric emergencies/complicated deliveries, termination of pregnancy, sexual violence
  • Willingness to be regularly on call for difficult and complicated deliveries
  • low/middle income countries
  • Willingness to work in unstable areas
  • Adaptable and able to work in a multi-cultural team
  • Flexible and able to manage stress
  • Available for nine to twelve months

Please note that in order to work with MSF as a midwife, it is not necessary to also be qualified as a nurse.

Assets

  • Tropical nursing diploma
  • Knowledge of STDs/HIV/AIDS
  • Family planning experience
  • Community midwifery experience
MSF Midwife Alice Gautreau, with newborn baby Christ and his Cameroonian mother. 
Baby Christ was born on the back of a crowded wooden boat on July 11, shortly before being rescued by the Aquarius. By the time MSF teams found them, mother and baby were still attached by umbilical cord and so they were promptly transferred onto the Aquarius and into the clinic, where the MSF Midwife Alice Gautreau and Doctor Craig Spencer helped to complete the delivery of the baby.
“In the clinic, we first separated mother and baby by cutting the umbilical cord.  Mum then needed a few stitches but other than that everything else went really well. Baby Christ weighs 7 pounds 10 ounces and against all odds, both mother and baby are doing really well,” she said.  
On July 11 2017, the Aquarius team rescued 630 people from two wooden boats and three rubber boats in distress, and took on board a further 230 people from Iuventa, the rescue boat of the NGO Jugend Rettet. Included in the 860 people on board are 9 pregnant women, 172 minors and newborn baby Christ. All 860 people were disembarked in Brindisi on July 14.

In their own words

Get behind-the-scenes insights from one of our midwives, Alice Gautreau

Before you apply

Make sure you read our application process guide for an overview of what to expect when you apply for an overseas role with the UK.

We take your safety, security and wellbeing seriously. Please watch these videos before you decide whether or not to apply for this job.

Apply to be a midwife

Please only apply if you meet all of the requirements below. 

1/6

I have read and understood the role description, and feel I can fulfil this role

2/6

I have high B1/B2 French language skills

3/6

I have spent at least three months working in a low/middle-income country

4/6

The UK is my place of residence and I have the right to live and work in the UK

5/6

I have a valid passport

6/6

I am available for a minimum of nine to twelve months