“The Mother Beyond Delivery”: The Midwife and Maternal Mental Health

Abstract

Mental illness is a major contributor to maternal morbidity and mortality, globally. Health professionals, specifically midwives’ have significant roles to play in reducing maternal mortality to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030, particularly in developing and resource constraint countries, as envisioned by the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3. Consequently, following a systematic and integrated literature review, this presentation critically examines midwives involvement in promoting maternal mental health, such as identifying women at risk, assessing and referring women appropriately in Ghana and beyond. Also, in view of calls to integrate mental health into general maternal health care, the presentation examines how midwives’ can be empowered, taking into consideration sociocultural dynamics and mental illness, to screen and deliver evidenced-based, low-cost interventions through routine maternal health and reproductive care services, or make appropriate psychiatric care referrals. Midwives’ are highly skilled in developing relationships with childbearing women and their families, a privileged position that affords a unique opportunity to enhance and promote maternal mental health to contribute to the attainment of SDG 3.