Looking toward 2030: Strengthening midwifery education through regional partnerships

The purpose of this paper is to describe the impact of a regional capacity-building project between Thailand and Laos that supports the United Nation's sustainable development goal 3 through midwifery education.

Discussion paper based on an exemplar.

The International Confederation of Midwifery's standards of midwifery education and World Health Organization midwifery educator core competencies provided the framework for capacity-building of Lao midwifery educators.

Knowledge gained from this 2-year project (October 2015-November 2017) increased the teaching confidence of midwifery educators while linking international standards and competencies to curriculum revision. In addition, capacity-building projects based on a needs assessment and implementation from regional partners may result in policy changes at the local and national level.

Partnerships are essential to meeting the sustainable development goals. These regional partnerships may be highly effective in creating sustainable capacity-building projects.

Maternal mortality and preventing deaths of children under 5 years old continues to be a challenge across the globe despite progress made in recent years. Progress toward sustainable development goal 3, requires efforts addressed in sustainable development goal17, partnership. Laos has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Southeast Asia. A project to increase capacity of midwifery educators demonstrated the benefit of regional partnerships in Laos to have an impact on sustainable development goal 3 ultimately improving maternal outcomes throughout the country. Partnerships especially those between countries in the same region, are crucial to the success of meeting the sustainable development goals.