MIDWIFERY: knowledge, skills and practices
With the short film “Midwifery: knowledge, skills and practices” berg hammer film has contributed to midwifery being declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO!
Midwifery becomes intangible cultural heritage
Global recognition for midwives: UNESCO inscribes "Midwifery" on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The UNESCO committee thus recognizes the outstanding role that midwives play worldwide in the preservation of life and the continued existence of humanity. This is a great success for parents' and midwives' associations worldwide, who initiated the nomination, as well as for dm-drogerie markt, who financed the application film.
After five years of great commitment by several national and international midwifery associations, including the German Midwives Association (DHV) in Germany, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee decided at its meeting in Botswana on Wednesday, December 6, to include "Midwifery" on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. "This recognition of our profession fills us with great happiness and pride," commented Ulrike Geppert-Orthofer, DHV President, on the event. "It is a historic moment and a strong signal that this UNESCO decision sends out. Midwifery is one of the oldest professions in the world. Since yesterday, all governments around the world know that they must protect the midwifery profession as a valuable cultural asset, preserve its origins and promote its further development," says Geppert-Orthofer. "The recognition by UNESCO," adds the DHV President, "underlines the outstanding importance of midwives for life and development worldwide and will encourage all midwives, who face major challenges everywhere, in their work."
The long-standing DHV cooperation partner dm-drogerie markt, without whom the application film would not have been made, also thanked the UNESCO committee for this decision. "UNESCO's decision to recognize midwifery as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is an important step. This is a great honor and a well-deserved appreciation of countless midwives in our society and around the world. As a company, we want to continue to be a strong partner of the German Midwives Association and contribute to improving midwifery and supporting midwives," says Sebastian Bayer, dm Managing Director responsible for Marketing + Procurement.
Background
All over the world, experienced midwives are at the side of women giving birth. They have fundamental medical, anatomical and obstetric knowledge that has been passed down from midwife to midwife for generations. By providing continuity of care and individualized support, midwives ensure a better outcome during the natural processes of pregnancy, birth and postpartum. In doing so, they combine intuition with evidence-based research, empirical and traditional knowledge.
The nomination of midwifery on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is the result of a joint initiative by Germany, Colombia, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Nigeria, Slovenia and Togo. In Germany, the DHV, the Association Midwives for Germany (HfD) and the Association of Freelance Midwives in Germany (BfHD) supported the application process. Karin Berghammer, a renowned director, was recruited to produce the application film. The film was sponsored with 10,000 euros by dm-drogerie markt.
(Source: https://hebammenverband.de/unesco-erklaert-hebammenwesen-zum-immateriellen-kulturerbe-der-menschheit)
Further information
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