Do nurses make the best midwives?

Abstract

Millions of people throughout the developing world are dying due to lack of access to health care services or professional health care workers. As indicated in the 2006 World Health Report (WHO, 2006) it is estimated that worldwide, there is a shortage of 4.3 million doctors, nurses, health managers and other health care workers. As a result, over 2 billion people have no access to health care. Numerous Declarations and expressions of commitment to address the issue have been developed, and yet this situation remains critical.