BY: SHALLON S. GONLOR |
shallonsgonlor@gmail.com
NIMBA COUNTY, Liberia — L. Fester Yormie, District Health Officer of the Zoe-Geh Health District, has disclosed plans to honor and recognize some of the district’s longest-serving, retired midwives for their decades of voluntary service to pregnant women and communities across the district.
DHO Yormie said the planned recognition ceremony will target midwives who have served for between 20 and 30 years, many of whom, according to him, have provided maternal health services without being placed on the government payroll.
The initiative is expected to cover midwives associated with eight health facilities across the Zoe-Geh Health District, including Bahn Health Center, Bayleglay Clinic, Siaplay Clinic, Lantuo Clinic, Lekpeilay Clinic, and other facilities within the district.
According to Yormie, approximately four to five of the longest-serving midwives are expected to be recognized during the initial ceremony, which will be conducted in the presence of their family members, health workers, and community members.
Disclosing over the weekend, DHO Yormie said the initiative is intended not only to appreciate the sacrifices of veteran midwives but also to motivate younger women to enter the midwifery profession and eventually replace those who have spent decades serving their communities.
“I think in our society, what we are experiencing is that some of those women have been working for something like 20, 25, and 30 years without being put on the government payroll. Their work has solely been voluntary,” Yormie said.
He explained that despite their critical role in helping women safely deliver their babies, many volunteer midwives receive little or no formal compensation for their services.
Yormie said that, in many instances, communities provide midwives with small tokens of appreciation after they assist pregnant women with deliveries, but such gestures are insufficient compared with the years of service and responsibilities they have undertaken.
“After conducting a delivery, the community people will just get them either a little thing to go wash their clothes. It is not anything that much,” he explained.
The Zoe-Geh District Health Officer said the district health team believes the veteran midwives deserve public recognition for their contributions to maternal healthcare, particularly because they continued serving remote communities despite limited resources and the absence of government employment.
“So, as Zoe-Geh District Health Team, we decided to appreciate those midwives by honoring them in the presence of their family members,” Yormie said. “We believe that doing so will encourage young people to become midwives and replace those old folks.”
He said the planned recognition is also part of a broader strategy to preserve community-based maternal health services in remote areas of the district.
According to him, many of the veteran midwives have now reached an age where traveling long distances to remote communities has become increasingly difficult.
“Our midwives under the Zoe-Geh Health District are old and cannot cover long distances again,” Yormie said, noting that some of them previously traveled considerable distances to assist pregnant women in remote towns and villages.
Yormie said the aging of experienced midwives presents a challenge for the district’s healthcare system, particularly in communities where access to health facilities remains difficult.
He explained that some pregnant women in remote communities depend heavily on local midwives because of transportation challenges, poor road conditions, and the distance between their communities and health facilities.
As the older generation of midwives gradually retires, he warned that there is a need to encourage younger women to enter the profession to ensure continuity of maternal healthcare services.
“We decided to honor and retire them in order to motivate other young women to join the profession to become a ‘zoe woman,’” he said.
Yormie believes the public recognition of veteran midwives could demonstrate to younger women that community service in maternal healthcare is valued and remembered.
“It is a strategy that when the honoring is held, some of the young females will feel happy to join because their services will be recognized and appreciated in the future,” he added.
A Tribute to Community Health Workers
The proposed ceremony comes amid broader concerns about the challenges faced by volunteer health workers in rural Liberia, where community-based healthcare providers often serve populations with limited access to formal medical facilities.
For decades, traditional and community-based midwives have played an important role in supporting pregnant women, particularly in hard-to-reach communities. Their work has included assisting women during childbirth, identifying potential complications, and encouraging pregnant women to seek care at health facilities when necessary.
The DHO’s planned recognition is therefore expected to serve as both a tribute to the veteran midwives and an appeal for a new generation of women to consider careers in maternal healthcare.
While the Zoe-Geh District Health Team’s initiative does not immediately resolve longstanding concerns over government employment and compensation for volunteer midwives, Yormie said recognition is an important first step toward showing appreciation for their contributions.
He expressed hope that the initiative will inspire young women to pursue professional midwifery training while encouraging communities and relevant authorities to continue supporting maternal healthcare workers.
The recognition, he said, is ultimately intended to ensure that the knowledge, experience, and commitment of veteran midwives are honored while creating a pathway for younger health workers to carry forward their legacy of service to communities across Zoe-Geh District and Nimba County.
