It is absolutely staggering that in developing countries most women birth their babies without a skilled attendant present.

There are no figures about how many midwifery students are lectured without a skilled midwifery facilitator - the author's guess is at sixty per cent. How can the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 of reducing maternal and infant mortality be met when these two situations prevail?

This book address the real issues of teaching and learning real midwifery. Skilled midwives have been shown globally to reduce maternal and infant mortality economically, effectively and respectfully.