Midwife

Médecins Sans Frontières; Australia; Remote; AUD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) seeks experienced midwives to support maternity care in resource-limited settings. Roles include managing obstetrics wards, antenatal and postnatal care, and addressing high-risk pregnancies to promote vaginal delivery where possible.

The work may involve rural clinics, urban hospitals, and programs addressing sexual violence survivors, with emphasis on survivor-centred, trauma-informed care and maintaining clinical standards.

Qualifications

• Two years minimum professional midwife experience.
• Experience managing high-risk pregnancies and complicated deliveries.
• Experience in antenatal, postnatal and newborn care, family planning.
• Fluency in English and/or French; additional languages are an asset.

Responsibilities

• Manage the obstetrics ward (work schedule and activity reports).
• Plan and implement daily guidance and technical training for midwives and nurses.
• Coach and support local TBAs and provide support with difficult births.
• Manage teams (recruitment, training).
• Submit activity reports and manage data (patient files, forms, statistics).
• Commitment for minimum six months or longer; maintain valid practice certificate.

Skills

Midwifery

High-risk pregnancies

Antenatal care

Postnatal care

Trauma-informed care

Team leadership

Education

Diploma in Midwifery

Diploma in public health

Job description

Midwives provide maternity checkups, childbirth assistance, postpartum care, family planning, and education to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Assistance is needed for high-risk and abnormal delivery in regions where prenatal care is not common and testing equipment is limited. In areas with a high birth rate, midwives play an important role in helping to ensure vaginal delivery over caesarean section whenever possible.

Your role may vary from setting up a maternal and child health department in a small rural clinic, to establishing a program to respond to sexual violence within a refugee population, to treating patients in an urban hospital. Your role will also include ensuring access to safe abortion care.

ACTIVITIES

• Manage the obstetrics ward (work schedule and activity report creation, supply management/ordering, data management)
• Plan and implement daily guidance and technical training for locally hired midwives and nurses
• Coach and support local mobile care TBAs (traditional birth attendants) and provide support with difficult births
• Manage teams (recruitment, training)
• Submit activity reports and manage data (patient files, forms, statistics, databases)
• At least two years of professional experience as a midwife
• Experience managing high-risk pregnancies and complicated deliveries
• Experience in antenatal and postnatal care as well as delivery and newborn care, family planning and mother-child health care
• Available for assignment for a minimum of six months or longer
• Current practicing certificate and must display no recent gap in clinical experience greater than two years
• Fluency in English and/or French; any other languages are an asset (Swahili, Arabic, Hausa, etc.)
• Diploma in public health or tropical medicine an asset
• Training in emergency obstetrics (eg Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics certification)
• Demonstrated experience in the clinical management of sexual violence survivors, including provision of survivor-centred, confidential and trauma-informed care

MSF Medical-Operational Guidelines

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) develops medical-operational guidelines for use in resource-limited environments. These guidelines draw from practical experience and scientific data collected in MSF’s projects, as well as evidence published by the World Health Organization and other leading medical institutions and scientific literature.