{"id":41967,"date":"2026-08-09T14:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T12:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=41967"},"modified":"2026-08-09T14:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T12:20:14","slug":"un-marks-indigenous-peoples-day-spotlighting-traditional-midwives","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/un-marks-indigenous-peoples-day-spotlighting-traditional-midwives\/","title":{"rendered":"UN marks Indigenous Peoples Day spotlighting traditional midwives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The United Nations (UN) is observing the International Day of the World\u2019s Indigenous Peoples today, placing a global spotlight on the vital contributions of traditional healthcare practices under the 2026 theme: &#8220;Honouring Indigenous Midwives: Safeguarding Life and Well-being.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The observance aims to recognise Indigenous midwives as vital knowledge holders and primary caregivers who facilitate safe maternal care while preserving ancestral health practices, cultural identity, and language transmission across generations.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Despite accounting for less than six percent of the global population, an estimated 476 million people across 90 countries, Indigenous Peoples represent at least 15% of the world\u2019s extremely poor. Furthermore, their territories encompass 28% of the Earth&#8217;s surface, hosting much of the planet&#8217;s remaining biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The UN noted that despite their central role in community health, Indigenous midwives continue to face systemic barriers, including institutional discrimination and a lack of formal recognition within state health systems.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A special UN virtual event scheduled for August 10 will convene international stakeholders and community leaders to discuss policy pathways aimed at integrating Indigenous-led care models into broader national health frameworks.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica\/UN&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41968,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-41967","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples highlights role of traditional midwives","published_date":"2026-08-09 14:14:02","news_description":"International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples highlights role of traditional midwives","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41969,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41967\/revisions\/41969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=41967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}