00:00Maternal mortality rates in Lesotho remain far above the global average.
00:06New efforts to bring maternal care closer to rural communities mean that more than 90% of births are now
00:13attended by a trained healthcare provider.
00:16That's thanks in part to a small but growing number of men challenging traditional gender roles to become professional midwives.
00:24So as I was growing, so our village is far away from the health facility.
00:32So most women would be pregnant, some were delivering at home, so it was just a mess.
00:38We are still here, but we are not supposed to see that, some were dying and all that.
00:43So I said, why are these women delivering at home?
00:47I didn't understand that they had to travel over a long distance.
00:49There was no transport and anything. So I then said that I'm going to grow and I'm going to be
00:57a nurse.
00:59Some proponents of male midwives say they provide more care and caution than their female counterparts
01:05because they aren't as familiar with the process of pregnancy and birth.
01:10They may also have to make efforts to gain their patient's trust.
01:15For a midwife to achieve positive outcome of the pregnancy, she or he has to go to work with this
01:26pregnant woman
01:26throughout the path of pregnancy until delivery.
01:31Therefore, for men, it becomes an issue of providing that psychosocial support more than it is provided by the female
01:43midwives.
01:44Men make up less than 1% of all midwives around the world, and some women still prefer females.
01:52But others say they appreciate the care that male midwives provide.
01:59I'm happy to be treated by a male.
02:02I'm able to freely communicate any problem I may have.
02:07Even when one arrives late for a check-up, they just treat you like any other person who arrived on
02:14time.
02:15The World Health Organization is calling for more people, male and female, to become midwives
02:22and help address shortages in childbirth responders.
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