The Midwives Service Scheme in Nigeria

The Midwives Service Scheme in Nigeria is a paper published in 2012 by the journal Public Library of Science Medicine.  It documents the introduction scheme in Nigeria, which hires unemployed, recently graduated, or retired midwives from across the country to work in underserved areas.The paper reviews the impact of the MSS on health outcomes and access to services for mothers and babies. It also documents challenges and provides recommendations to policy-makers to improve the operation of the scheme.

• Nigeria faces a crisis of human resources (HRH) for health. This requires an immediate increase in the number of health providers, or at least a redistribution towards under-served areas.
• The Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) was set up in 2009 to address this HRH crisis in maternal health by recruiting additional midwives who are either unemployed, retired, or new graduates.
• The federal, state, and LGA levels all have a responsibility to honour their financial and practical commitments to the scheme.
• Although there have been overall improvements in maternal and neonatal health indices as a result of MSS, these gains have been unevenly distributed and the least gains have been made in the Northern states.

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