In November 2015, Professor Caroline Homer, Associate Dean in the UTS Faculty of Health, and member of the World Health Organisation’s Collaborating Centre (WHOCC) for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Development, attended the 4th Arab States Midwifery Conference in Cairo, Egypt to discuss the state of midwifery in the region.
In 2013-14, Professor Homer was part of the core group of researchers that compiled the “State of the World’s Midwifery Report 2014” with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Independent Commission on Multilateralism (ICM). This 2014 report surveyed seven Arab countries: Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
In 2015, the UNFPA Arab States Regional Office (ASRO) commissioned an expansion of the survey to include an additional six Arab countries (Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine and Tunisia). These six countries were asked to complete the State of the World’s Midwifery questionnaire. Their responses were added to those from the original seven countries to enable an analysis of the state of midwifery across the entire Arab region.
This analysis was published in a report entitled “The State of Midwifery in Selected Arab Countries”, which was launched at the conference in Cairo.
The launch of the report was followed by four days of workshopping. Stakeholders developed an improved understanding of the development of the midwifery workforce in the region, discussed country-specific midwifery workforce development strategies and policy options, developed terms of reference for establishing a regional midwifery networks and workshopped a report with recommendations for action.
Professor Homer engaged with several stakeholders from WHO, including Dr. Arwa Oweis, the new regional representative for nursing and midwifery. UTS has a strong relationship with Dr. Oweis, who serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at the Jordan University of Science and Technology. Dr. Oweis has supported a number of Jordanian midwives and nurses who have come to UTS to study PhDs.
Professor Homer’s visit to Cairo was an excellent opportunity for networking with colleagues and maintaining UTS high-profile on the international stage.