Midwife

Midwife

Please note: the next recruitment window for this role will open on 1 March until 1 August 2024.

We will only be accepting applications from Midwives with high B1/ B2 French language skills and previous working experience in a low/middle-income country . Unfortunately, we will not be able to consider applicants without both of the above.

Caption Christine, a Kenyan midwife leads the maternity services in MSF primary health centres in Jamtoli and Hakimpara, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. © Anthony Kwan/MSF

As a midwife with MSF your experience in both complicated and normal deliveries will be essential.

From visiting expectant mums deep in the jungle to training birth attendants in busy maternity departments in big hospital settings, our midwives are a vital part of most project teams.

Responsibilities

As a Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) midwife you'll work in both health centres and conduct outreach work in the community.

No matter what the context - natural disasters, conflicts or poverty-affected communities - babies will continue to be born and midwives will always be needed.

It's a challenging and rewarding role and you'll be responsible for some or all of the following: 

Pre- and post-delivery care

Deliveries, often complicated

Care of survivors of sexual violence

Setting up maternity departments in new health centres/hospitals

Working with community birth attendants to ensure safe community birthing practices

Running awareness programs in the community

Training local midwives

On-call care, often 24 hours

As a midwife with MSF, your experience in both complicated and normal deliveries will be essential.

You could be involved in setting up a mother-child health department in a rural clinic, providing reproductive health care from mobile clinics or treating patients in an urban hospital.

Your training skills will be crucial because you may be assigned to help traditional birth attendants develop new skills.

At the same time, you will need to learn from the women you treat to understand cross-cultural issues surrounding childbirth.

The tiny cramped compound is always buzzing with children's cries and laughter. There, we treat and fix almost anything and everything. Malaria (mostly), flu, broken bones, cuts, pneumonia... you name it!

ALICE GAUTREAU | MidwifeTweet this

Application guide

Read our guide on the application process for all overseas roles

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Role requirements

Valid Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) or Irish Nursing Board registration

Two year's post-qualification experience

Experience in supervising, managing and training others

Experience of obstetric emergencies/complicated deliveries, termination of pregnancy, sexual violence

Willingness to be regularly on call for difficult and complicated deliveries

Over three months experience of working in a low resource settings

Willingness to work in unstable areas

Adaptable and able to work in a multi-cultural team

Flexible and able to manage stress

Available for nine to twelve months

Please note that in order to work with MSF as a midwife, it is not necessary to also be qualified as a nurse.

Assets

Tropical nursing diploma

Knowledge of STDs/HIV/AIDS

Family planning experience

Community midwifery experience