The International Confederation of Midwives and Laerdal Global Health have donated birth simulators to the International University of Management.
The items aim to enhance the practical skills of nursing students, thereby reducing risks during childbirth.
The donated items will sharpen skills and capacitate students in the nursing sector in managing complications when delivering babies, in turn reducing the risk and safeguarding the lives of mothers and babies.
According to statistics, Namibia has experienced a 1.57% decline in its birth rate between 2023 and 2024.
The statistics indicate a reduction from 26.4 births per 1,000 people in 2023 to 26 births per 1,000 people in 2024.
Vice Chancellor of IUM, Osmund Mwandemele, described the donation as an investment in the future of maternal healthcare in Namibia.
"This donation provides an opportunity to strengthen skills for our nursing students to be able to effectively function in our hospitals, thereby ensuring safety for not only mothers but also newborns. So it is a very, very important donation."
The university was able to acquire the donated items after the Independent Midwives Association of Namibia (IMANA) submitted a proposal to the International Confederation of Midwives and Laerdal Global Health.
President of Imana, Sylvia Hamata, said the association's mandate is to ensure that Namibia produces competent midwives, offering safe and respectful maternity care.
"This simulator equipment here will enable students to first have practicals in the simulation room before they actually touch the woman in the facilities. That will just preserve the dignity that women receive in the facilities because we know we have more students now than they can accommodate. So you can just imagine how that affects the quality of the women's receive in the facilities."
HOD of Nursing and Midwifery at IUM, Professor Stephanie Van Der Walt, says the donation will enhance the quality of midwifery education and improve maternal health outcomes.
Van Der Walt adds that the donation will play a huge role in improving the quality of healthcare.