Colombia’s traditional midwives face extinction despite recognition
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Laura Torres, a traditional midwife in Colombia, describes how midwives in the country risk losing their practices despite recent legal and international recognition of their work.
Torres travels to patients’ homes carrying tools for prenatal care and understands that midwifery extends beyond childbirth to include community support and ancestral medicine. In 2022, the Colombian Constitutional Court acknowledged midwifery as ancestral knowledge and a cultural heritage.
Later that year, the country passed the Ley 2244, the “Law of Dignified, Respected and Humanized Childbirth,” which mandated state support for midwife training. In December 2023, UNESCO added “Midwifery: knowledge, skills and practices” to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, with Colombia as one of eight participating countries. Despite these acknowledgements, midwives still struggle to practice with dignity due to a lack of practical support.
Torres worries that the legal recognition does not translate into real conditions for the survival and transmission of this knowledge. Many experienced midwives are aging and unable to pass on their skills because young people lack opportunities to learn without feeling shame. Torres argues that midwifery needs to be supported as a living practice, not preserved as a museum piece, so future generations can benefit from culturally sensitive and loving care at birth.
Each day without concrete action brings the loss of a midwife’s legacy.
