The mother’s contact with the child growing in the mother’s body is not only of the body but also of the mind. If the mother is upset, if the mother is under stress, it affects the baby as well. The physical structure of the child, the beginning of growth is in the mother’s womb. So looking after physical health during pregnancy is just as important as looking after mental health.
Only if an expectant mother is mentally healthy can she face the challenges of pregnancy and her new life with the newborn. Unfortunately, due to physical and environmental changes including hormonal changes, most expectant mothers experience stress and various problems.
Not only that. According to the World Health Organization, 15.6 percent of pregnant women and 19.8 percent of pregnant women in developing countries suffer from mental illness, especially depression (postpartum depression). which has long-lasting negative effects on the life of a mother and the unborn child. This is why it is so important to identify mothers at mental health risk for timely and appropriate treatment. And this can be done with the help of health workers who work directly with expectant mothers.
Yes, I am talking about the ‘midwives’. Because ‘midwives’ are professionals whose job it is to provide health care and ensure their safety to mothers and babies. Midwives mainly deal directly with prenatal, pregnancy and post-pregnancy maternal health, where she takes care of a mother’s overall physical and mental health and provides necessary services.
Most importantly, maternal mental health lessons are directly included in the education of midwife professionals, so they gain a basic understanding of mental health risks. Midwives are empathetic and respectful of the mother, while maintaining confidentiality.
Due to quality education as well as positive practices mentioned above, midwives can easily take the place of trust of mother and family and create a dependent relationship. This makes the process of providing and receiving services easier. And that is why a midwife is able to identify the potential mental health risks of the mother before any other professional and can advise the mother to go to the appropriate professional after understanding the situation. As a result, damage can be prevented in the long run.
Thus a midwife can play an incredible role not only in childbirth but also in the advancement of the mother’s mental health. The midwifery profession is still a new concept in India Specially West Bengal. We need to invest more in midwifery profession at public and private level so that people at all levels of town and village know about the importance of this profession and people choose midwifery as a profession. Then the acceptance of midwifery will increase as well as the interest in using their services. In the future our young midwives will be able to create milestones alongside other health professionals by ensuring overall healthy maternal health.
Author
Sradhanjali DasguptaPhd Scholar
