World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Midwifery Development

We are proud to be a designated World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Midwifery Development.

The Centre, established in August 2016, forms part of an international collaborative network which supports, and undertakes projects in support of, WHO programmes at national, regional and international levels.

As a member of the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Nursing and Midwifery, we have the opportunity to collaborate with midwives and nurses from over 43 centres around the world.

Our work

Our WHO Collaborating Centre works with the WHO European Regional Office in Copenhagen, Denmark on their 'Human Resources for Health' programme. A key objective of the programme is to strengthen the nursing and midwifery workforce across Europe and thus maximise their potential to contribute to the Health 2020 agenda, at national, regional and global levels.

'Health 2020' aims "to significantly improve the health and well-being of populations, reduce health inequalities, strengthen public health and ensure people-centred health systems that are provide universal, equitable, sustainable and of high quality."

Midwifery across Europe varies widely in terms of educational preparation, professional regulation, and scope of practice. In our Collaborating Centre we share skills and good practice with others, so that together we can improve the care that women and their newborns receive.

The WHO Collaborating Centre for Midwifery Development provides technical advice, consultancy, evidence generation and dissemination in order to contribute to scaling up and transforming midwifery education across the WHO Europe region.

Aims

The Centre aims to:

• support WHO by generating the evidence base relating to midwifery education and practice
• assist WHO in disseminating evidence and good practice in the field of midwifery education and practice
• provide technical consultancy and expert advice to Member States on midwifery education.

Our areas of expertise

Education

• Woman-centred midwifery education
• Curriculum development and design
• Inter-professional learning
• Clinical simulation.

Practice

• Maternal and infant health
• Promoting woman and family centred care
• Supporting normal birth and midwife-led care
• Breastfeeding
• Perinatal Mental Health
• Nutrition and obesity prevention
• Newborn and fetal monitoring
• Workforce wellbeing and resilience.

Research and development

• Teaching research methods
• Evidence Based Practice Development
• Research proposal writing
• Conduct of research
• PhD supervision
• Writing for publication.

Director of World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Midwifery Development

Find out more

For further information about the work of the Centre, please visit the WHO Collaborating Centre website or please contact us at whoccmid@cardiff.ac.uk.