Midwife
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!
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
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.
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