Midwifery is a professional practice discipline concerned with human responses to health issues throughout the life span. Professional midwives assist mothers to maximize their independence and quality of life through the provision of maternal and reproductive health to promote, maintain, or restore health or to support a peaceful death. Nurse-patient partnerships are developed for mutual planning of care and healthcare decision making.

An Overview of the BMS Programme

The Bachelor of Midwifery Science program will be offered at Fins Medical with great emphasis on general nursing care, midwifery care, community health, management, leadership, and research.

We believe that the purpose of Bachelor of Midwifery Science is to prepare midwives who are able to assist individual girls, women and communities that are in need of safe deliveries and are desirous to achieve the desired health outcomes through the provision of midwifery care and collaboration in a multidisciplinary environment. In addition, the program will prepare leaders in midwifery practice and scholarship who will effect positive change in health care thus improving the profession and health outcomes. Graduates of this program will be prepared to undertake studies up to the master’s level and beyond.

At Fins Medical University, we believe that the goal of midwifery is to promote maternal health, reproductive health, and give support and care in times of illness, and provide comfort and dignity in death in ways that are appropriate for all citizens of the world. The products of BMS program will have competencies to design, manage, coordinate, provide evidence-based midwifery care, and function as members of the profession. In addition, products of this program will be leaders able to teach, carry out research, advocate, consult, and collaborate across a wide range of settings.

Why Midwifery is very important today

The health indicators for Uganda and the entire East and Central African regions have continued to be poor in health care delivery especially for maternal and reproductive health and women’s health in general. The current Ugandan national health indicators of:    Neonatal Mortality rate (21.4 deaths per 1,000 live births), Under Five Mortality rate (53 deaths per 1000 live births), Maternal Mortality Rate (336 deaths/100,000 live births (UDHS 2016) are among the highest in the region and the world. These poor health indicators highlight the maternal and child health problems that predominantly affect women and children. The persistence of poor maternal and infant health indicators is partly due to the inadequate numbers of trained midwives in the health facilities.

Majority of maternal and newborn deaths in Uganda are due to preventable causes that can be significantly reduced by access to midwifery care during   pregnancy, at birth, and   after birth, particularly the first 48 hours.  Midwives have the skills to recognize and provide the appropriate intervention or referral to prevent majority of maternal and newborn deaths as well as disability due to pregnancy complications such as obstetric fistula. However, access to midwifery care in Uganda is constrained due to a number of factors. This has contributed to the unacceptably high maternal mortality and the inadequate progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3, target 1 and 2 of reducing the   global   maternal mortality ratio to less   than 70 per 100,000 live births and ending preventable deaths of newborns and under five children respectively by 2030 (UDHS 2016).

These poor health indicators highlight the health problems that predominantly affect women and children. The persistence of poor maternal and infant health indicators is partly due to the inadequate numbers of health practitioners in the Health care facilities with special preparation in midwifery and women health. Additionally, a Midwife in Uganda conducts between 350 and 500 deliveries per year; more than twice the 175 deliveries as recommended by World Health Organisation (UNFPA, Report 2011). This has jeopardized the quality of care offered to mothers and their babies.  Graduates from the Bachelor of Midwifery Science program will provide critically needed human resource for health in various health facilities, delivering care nearer to where pregnant mothers and infants live across the region. The products of the BMS program will further reduce these deliveries to the numbers as recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO). Therefore, to achieve WHO recommendations, there is need to build the capacity of the midwives to work independently to save the lives of mothers and new born.

Source * https://fmu.ac.ug/bachelor-of-science-in-midwifery/