About the movie "Birth in Nepal".

 "Birth in Nepal"

The film maker, Sabina Shrestha has captured the scene very well. This a very common childbirth practices in rural Nepal, especially western part of Nepal. This flim is taken in the mid-western region of Nepal, where sociocultural taboos and practices are deeply entrenched in the society. 

Childbirths and menstruating blood are considered polluting and childbirths is considered normal life event thus not required medical help. In Nepal, women are considered second class citizen so having a girl child is considered burden to the family, which is some how reflected in the video.

Apart from this, in Nepal we don't have a separate cadre of midwife, who assisted women during childbirths. In the film, Laxmi was said midwife but in reality she is not a midwife. She is a Auxillary Nurse-midwife (ANM), who had undergone 18 months pre-service course to become a ANM. Just because of their long exposure and practices in rural setting health facilities they are able to assist women for normal childbirths. Otherwise, they are not competent and confident in assisting women for childbirth. Only ANMs are the one in rural and peripheral health care settings who are responsible for helping women before, during and after childbirths. They are based in the health facilities and in the village level there is no such health personnel who can help women during childbirth except female health community volunteer as mentioned in the video.

There is lots do in Nepal to save the lives of women and newborns. So, through our recently established Midwifery Society of Nepal we are advocating with the government of Nepal to strengthen maternity care services in rural areas by bringining a separate cadre of midwife as crucial human resource for safe motherhood, which has also been acknowledged by the government of Nepal and incorporated in the national policy but has not yet implemented. 

Here is the link of our society www.midson.org

Ms. Laxmi Tamang,

RN, MPH, Founder Managing Director, Aadharbhut Prasuti Sewa Kendra  (Nurse-midwives led Independent Birthing Centre), Kathmandu