On 2 March 2026, UNFPA in the Philippines, together with the Department of Health, Commission on Higher Education, Professional Regulation Commission, Association of Philippine Schools of Midwifery (APSOM), midwifery professional organizations (Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines, Inc. (IMAP) and the Philippine League of Government and Private Midwives (PLGPMI), Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS), and partners, supported the National Validation Workshop on the Midwifery Professional Framework and Core Competencies in Quezon City.
The workshop marked an important milestone in strengthening the midwifery profession in the Philippines through the validation and national endorsement of a unified professional framework aligning education, regulation, and clinical practice. Developed through a multi-stakeholder process initiated in 2025, the framework responds to longstanding challenges related to scope of practice, professional identity, and competency standards across the health system.
Participants affirmed competencies that position midwives as essential providers of quality, respectful, and rights-based sexual and reproductive, maternal, and newborn health services. Recommendations from the participants highlighted the need to align competencies with the Universal Health Care reforms in the country. The framework reinforces midwives’ roles in primary health care, emergency obstetric and newborn care, gender-based violence response, interprofessional collaboration, and digital health–enabled service delivery.
The workshop concluded with the signing of the Joint Declaration of Consensus, formally adopting the Reference Professional Framework of the Midwife in the Philippines and the Midwife Core Competencies as nationally aligned professional standards.
UNFPA remains committed to supporting the Government of the Philippines and partners in strengthening the midwifery workforce, recognizing that investing in midwives is critical to ending preventable maternal deaths and ensuring that every pregnancy is wanted and every childbirth is safe.
