More empty Italian cradles in 2020 for Italians. This is established by the very recent Istat report.
Demographic indicators, they speak of a 3.8% drop in new births, in 2020, compared to the previous year. The reduction in the birth rate affects all areas of the country, from North to South, with rare and insignificant exceptions and in the last 12 years it has gone from a relative peak of 577 thousand births to the current 404 thousand, a good 30% less. With a tendency to reduce the fertility rate to only one child per couple. Faced with these figures, it is significant to celebrate the 29th International Midwife Day on 5 May. A day set up to enhance a professional figure who has always given love.
Our mothers spoke of “midwife”, a term that is still used in Switzerland to define the professional figure of the Midwife who, to this day, is in charge of assisting the future mother during pregnancy and also afterwards. A figure always alongside women and newborns, even in full Coronavirus emergency. And Covid-19 would be, according to experts, in the dock also in relation to the collapse of the birth rate. The climate of mistrust and the absence of a future linked to the health emergency could have influenced the fertility projects of Italian couples.
There is the order of the Obstetric profession that gathers over 20 thousand experts, who, on a daily basis, work in hospital, territorial and public settings to assist and protect women, in all their life stages. Even if, as mentioned, in Italy we are living in what sociologists call the “demographic winter”, that is, in an era in which there is a clear reduction in births and not only, due to Covid, midwives are taking on an increasingly role important, also in the face of the paradigm shift of the family.
Dr. Maurizio Gnazzi, Director of the Nursing and Obstetrics Department of the Mater Dei Hospital in Bari, Mustela consultant, who graduated in ’93 at La Sapienza in Rome, is enthusiastic to offer his contribution to the couple in a very delicate moment such as pregnancy and arrival. of a baby. “Despite the Italian trend, at the hospital in Bari, where I work, we have seen, in the last year, 1450 births. And, above all, the average age of mothers has dropped. Certainly, in Italy the birth rate is a phenomenon born from the absence of suitable policies to support families. In general, the family has changed and if once the midwife assumed a role of protection of the woman, today, in light of the importance that the role of the father has also assumed during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, I turn to the couple . The partner, in fact, is an integral part of this moment and now actively participates in the birth, but also in the daily management of the newcomer. As an obstetrician, I organize pre-birth and post-partum courses to help whole families face the new adventure and, for some years now, I have also decided to involve grandparents, key figures especially in the post-partum period which, however, must be educated “. As Dr. Gnazzi himself says “Childbirth is not taught, awareness is. Today the obstetrician is autonomous and pursues a path dictated by the art of maieutics and also by science “.
The midwife accompanies couples and also educates them to better deal with breastfeeding. It takes time and patience for new parents to learn how to interpret and meet the baby’s needs, starting with crying, sleeping, and starving. This is why, even at home, it is important to ensure quality health care, promoting correct management of the newcomer.
“Empathy is the key word – concludes Dr. Gnazzi – conception and waiting are unique and wonderful moments that must be lived fully. Every day you become a mother little by little, accepting this new role with awareness, knowledge and responsibility. And we Midwives are available to take families by the hand and direct them towards a change of life ”.