Global health organizations and local governments alike have recognized the essential role that midwives play in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. According to WHO data released in April 2025, approximately 260,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2023, with 92% of those deaths occurring in low- and lower-middle-income countries. A January 2026 study from the International Confederation of Midwives found the world now faces a shortage of nearly one million midwives across 181 countries. Against this backdrop, international midwifery internships have become an increasingly important component of both education and advocacy.
If you’re studying to become a midwife, you may already know the value of strong clinical skills, textbook knowledge, and evidence-based decision-making. But there’s something that textbooks can’t teach you: how to apply all of this in real-world, cross-cultural, and often resource-limited healthcare settings. That’s where a midwifery internship abroad can give you the kind of training that sets you apart.
This article covers the advantages of completing your midwifery internship overseas, what you’ll gain both personally and professionally, and how programs like International Medical Aid’s Pre-Midwifery Internships offer structured opportunities that prepare you for a career in global maternal health.
Why the Global Midwifery Shortage Makes International Training More Urgent in 2026
Before discussing the benefits of interning abroad, it helps to understand why this kind of experience matters now more than at any other point in recent history. The numbers tell a stark story.
In 2023, over 700 women died every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. That’s roughly one woman every two minutes. Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for about 70% of those deaths (an estimated 182,000), while southern Asia accounted for approximately 17% (43,000). The maternal mortality rate in low-income countries stood at 346 per 100,000 live births, compared to just 10 per 100,000 in high-income countries.
These numbers are not abstract. They represent women who could have survived pregnancy and childbirth with access to skilled care. And research consistently shows that midwives are the single most effective intervention. According to WHO, midwives can provide approximately 90% of essential sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health services. When educated to international standards and supported with the right resources, midwifery care could avert more than 80% of all maternal deaths, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths.
Yet the workforce gap keeps growing. The January 2026 ICM study, the most comprehensive post-COVID analysis of the global midwifery workforce to date, estimates that 980,000 additional midwives are needed across 181 countries. Africa accounts for nearly half of that global shortage despite being home to less than one-fifth of the world’s women of reproductive age. Even with current training rates, the global shortage is projected to remain between 690,000 and 830,000 midwives by 2030, as population growth continues to outpace workforce expansion.
The situation in the United States is also concerning. The CDC reported that 649 women died of maternal causes in 2024, with a maternal mortality rate of 17.9 per 100,000 live births. For Black non-Hispanic women, that rate was 44.8 per 100,000. The U.S. remains one of only seven countries where the proportion of pregnancies resulting in maternal death has significantly increased since 2000. According to a 2025 workforce study by the American College of Nurse-Midwives, the country has roughly 14,000 midwives but needs at least 22,000 to meet the WHO recommendation of six midwives per 1,000 live births.
For students considering midwifery, these figures point to a profession where well-trained practitioners are desperately needed, both at home and abroad. An international internship gives you early exposure to the realities behind these statistics and helps you build the kind of clinical awareness that classroom instruction alone cannot provide.
Experience Different Models of Maternal Care
In the United States and other Western countries, the clinical model often dominates childbirth and maternal care. But when you intern abroad, especially in countries like Kenya, Uganda, Ecuador, and Peru, you’ll see firsthand how midwives take the lead in a range of settings, from rural birthing centers to community-based mobile clinics.
You’ll learn how these healthcare systems operate in low-resource environments where midwives often provide primary, and sometimes sole, maternal care. Understanding these models will give you a broader appreciation for how midwifery is practiced globally and help you think more critically about how you want to shape your own future as a provider.
In June 2025, WHO released new implementation guidance calling on countries to adopt and expand midwifery models of care, where midwives serve as the main care provider for women and babies throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period. This guidance also highlighted the problem of over-medicalization in childbirth: cesarean birth rates are nearing 30% worldwide, roughly double the WHO recommended rate, and in some countries they exceed 50%. Interning in settings where midwifery-led care is the norm rather than the exception helps you understand what this model looks like in practice, not just in policy documents.
What You’ll See in Specific Destinations
Each country where IMA places midwifery interns has its own maternal health profile, and understanding these differences is part of what makes the internship valuable.
In Kenya, for example, the maternal mortality rate has decreased to approximately 530 per 100,000 live births according to a 2025 UNICEF compendium, but that still translates to roughly 6,000 preventable deaths each year, about 16 women per day. Kenya’s health system is also undergoing a difficult transition: the shift from the Linda Mama free maternity program under the former National Hospital Insurance Fund to the new Social Health Insurance Fund has created gaps in access, with early signs suggesting that skilled birth attendance may be declining as a result.
In Uganda, maternal mortality has improved over time, decreasing from 418 per 100,000 live births in 2006 to 336 per 100,000 in 2016, according to the Uganda Health and Demographic Survey. But the country continues to face serious challenges in rural access to skilled birth attendants, and midwives remain the primary providers in many districts.
Peru saw significant progress in reducing maternal mortality before 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic reversed much of that progress, pushing the MMR back to pre-2010 levels. A 2025 study published in the International Journal for Equity in Health found that ecosocial inequalities persist, disproportionately affecting disadvantaged regions. Ecuador faces similar challenges, with ongoing shortfalls in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality and preventing adolescent pregnancies.
When you intern in any of these settings, you’re not just observing a different healthcare system. You’re learning how midwives respond to systemic gaps, policy shifts, and resource constraints in real time. That kind of exposure builds clinical judgment and contextual awareness that you simply cannot get from a textbook or a simulation lab. If choosing the right location is something you’re weighing carefully, understanding each country’s specific challenges is a good starting point.
Cultural Competency Starts With Cultural Immersion
One of the most important skills a healthcare provider can have, and one that cannot be taught in a lecture hall, is the ability to respect and respond to cultural beliefs surrounding childbirth and women’s health.
Whether you’re assisting in a Maasai community in East Africa or helping educate women in the Andes about prenatal nutrition, you’ll encounter deeply rooted beliefs about pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum care. Some patients may decline interventions you’re used to offering, or they may follow local traditions unfamiliar to you.
Working in these environments helps you understand how to provide respectful, safe, and culturally sensitive care. It’s an experience that will change the way you interact with every patient, long after your internship ends.
Learn Resourcefulness in Low-Tech Environments
You’ll quickly discover that delivering quality care doesn’t always require the newest technology or the most expensive equipment. In fact, the best midwives are often the most resourceful.
In many of the locations where International Medical Aid places interns, you may find yourself in clinics that lack consistent electricity, access to laboratory testing, or advanced neonatal units. Despite these limitations, midwives in these settings provide lifesaving care every day. You’ll learn how they adapt, prioritize, and make decisions based on experience, observation, and patient trust.
These are the kinds of clinical instincts that will serve you in any setting, from a high-acuity hospital to a mobile clinic in a disaster zone. Students who have completed pre-health internships abroad consistently report that learning to think on their feet in low-resource environments made them more capable and confident once they returned to their home programs.
Shadow and Work Alongside Experienced Midwives
As an intern abroad, you’re not just standing in the corner watching someone else do the work. You’re participating within approved boundaries and under professional supervision.
In IMA’s programs, you’ll shadow licensed midwives and medical professionals, assist in patient education, take vitals, observe deliveries, and gain hands-on exposure to care across the perinatal spectrum. You may even help in postpartum recovery rooms, community education sessions, or prenatal group visits in some settings.
These professionals often work with limited support and manage complex cases independently. By watching how they operate, make decisions, and advocate for their patients, you’ll gain confidence in your own ability to lead and deliver care, not just follow instructions.
Enhance Your Midwifery Program or Graduate Application
If you’re still a student planning to apply to a midwifery program, an international internship is a powerful addition to your application.
Admissions committees are looking for candidates who demonstrate initiative, a commitment to underserved populations, and a clear understanding of what it takes to practice maternal care. When you’ve worked in the field, helped in deliveries, assisted in education programs, and adapted to unfamiliar systems, that stands out.
You’ll be able to speak in detail about the real challenges of global maternal care, reflect on ethical dilemmas, and show your resilience and adaptability. These are qualities that programs look for, and they give your application real weight. The same principles that apply to writing a strong internship application also apply when you’re translating that experience into a graduate school personal statement: specific examples, honest reflection, and demonstrated growth matter far more than vague claims about passion.
Learn more about IMA’s Pre-Midwifery Internships and how they can strengthen your path into midwifery school.
Build Lifelong Friendships and Professional Networks
Students who participate in International Medical Aid internships don’t just walk away with clinical skills. They leave with relationships that last a lifetime.
You’ll work alongside local midwives, nurses, international students, and community health workers. Many interns form long-term friendships, collaborate on public health projects, and return for future humanitarian work. Some go on to complete graduate studies together or work in similar international clinics post-graduation.
The networking opportunities alone make this internship experience invaluable, especially in a field like midwifery where mentorship, referrals, and global partnerships are often key to building a fulfilling career. For perspective on how other health disciplines benefit from similar international experiences, IMA’s writing on nursing experiences abroad covers many of the same professional benefits.
Contribute to Meaningful Change in Underserved Communities
This is not volunteer tourism. It’s a structured clinical internship that fills a real gap in underserved communities.
Midwifery interns assist with patient intake, postpartum assessments, HIV education programs, and maternal nutrition initiatives. You’ll often work in areas where access to maternal healthcare is inconsistent or absent entirely. Your presence as a compassionate, trained student brings value to the healthcare team and helps improve outcomes.
The urgency of this contribution has only increased in 2025 and 2026. The Trump administration’s FY 2026 budget request did not include any funding for bilateral maternal and child health efforts, and an internal USAID memo reported that the cessation of USAID programming for maternal and child health would affect services for 16.8 million pregnant women annually and eliminate postnatal care for 11.3 million newborns within the first two days of life. In December 2025, UNFPA launched a US$1 billion humanitarian appeal to fund its work in 41 countries, warning that millions of women and girls in crisis settings would lose access to essential services without new funding.
When international aid is being cut, the need for skilled midwifery professionals who understand global contexts becomes even more critical. Students who train in these environments gain firsthand understanding of what’s at stake and carry that awareness into their professional lives.
The Economic and Health Case for Investing in Midwifery
It’s worth understanding why governments, NGOs, and international bodies are so focused on expanding the midwifery workforce. The evidence isn’t just about saving lives, though that alone would be sufficient. It’s also about economics.
According to a November 2025 evidence brief from the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (PMNCH) and ICM, midwifery models of care reduce costly over-medicalization, free resources for primary care, and deliver up to a 16-to-1 return on investment. The same brief estimated that closing the women’s health gap with midwives could add roughly US$1 trillion per year to the global economy by 2040.
Universal coverage of midwife-delivered interventions could avert 67% of maternal deaths, 64% of neonatal deaths, and 65% of stillbirths, allowing 4.3 million lives to be saved annually by 2035. A 2025 ecological study published in a peer-reviewed journal found that countries with higher densities of nursing and midwifery professionals reported substantially lower maternal mortality rates, and that the nursing and midwifery workforce size alone accounted for 49% of the global variation in maternal mortality.
These findings matter for students because they frame midwifery not as a niche specialization but as a central pillar of global health. When you train internationally and see the conditions that produce these statistics, you become better equipped to advocate for the profession, contribute to workforce solutions, and understand the systemic factors that shape maternal outcomes.
Discover Your Own Calling in Midwifery
Many students enter these internships unsure of what area of maternal care they want to pursue. Others aren’t even sure if midwifery is the right path. That clarity often comes during an internship abroad.
When you assist in your first prenatal visit or help teach a mother how to swaddle her baby in a small rural clinic, something clicks. It’s a powerful moment of connection, and it often becomes the catalyst for students to commit fully to maternal health, to advocate for health equity, and to dedicate their lives to service.
Some students arrive expecting to pursue one path and leave with an entirely different plan. Maybe you thought you wanted to work in a U.S. hospital but realized your real interest is community-based maternal care. Maybe you thought you wanted to be a physician but discovered that midwifery’s model of continuity and relationship-based care fits you better. These are the kinds of realizations that come from being in the field, not from reading about it.
What to Expect from a Midwifery Internship Abroad with IMA
If you’re considering a placement through International Medical Aid, here’s what you can expect:
- Clinical experience under the supervision of licensed professionals
- 40+ hours per week of hospital-based work or community outreach
- Cultural immersion activities and guided reflections
- Housing, meals, and ground transportation included
- Emergency support and pre-departure training
You’ll gain access to IMA’s full team of mentors, physicians, and public health experts, and you’ll return home with a certificate of completion and a wealth of experiences to draw on.
It’s also worth noting what you won’t do: you will not practice unsupervised, make independent clinical decisions, or perform procedures beyond your scope. IMA’s programs are structured around observation, supported participation, and professional mentorship. This approach protects patients, respects local regulations, and ensures that your experience is genuinely educational. For a broader look at how structured support systems work in international health programs, IMA’s guide on housing and support systems abroad provides useful context.
How to Prepare Before You Go
Getting the most out of a midwifery internship abroad requires some preparation before you leave. Here are a few concrete steps that will help you arrive ready to learn.
First, review the maternal health profile of your destination country. Understanding the local MMR, common complications, health system structure, and cultural context will help you make sense of what you observe from day one. The WHO, UNICEF, and UNFPA all publish country-specific maternal health data that is freely available online.
Second, brush up on your clinical fundamentals. Even though you’ll be in a supervised, observational role, knowing how to take vitals accurately, understanding the stages of labor, and being familiar with common prenatal and postnatal assessments will allow you to engage more meaningfully with the clinical team.
Third, think about what you want to reflect on. IMA’s programs include guided reflection components, and students who arrive with specific questions or areas of interest tend to get more out of those sessions. Are you interested in how midwives manage high-risk pregnancies without access to specialists? Do you want to understand how community health workers and midwives collaborate? Bring those questions with you.
Finally, talk to your academic advisor or program director. Some midwifery and nursing programs may accept international clinical hours toward certain requirements, and your advisor can help you document your experience appropriately. Do not assume academic credit will be granted; confirm this directly with your institution before you travel.
Financial Aid and Support for Interns
Worried about funding your internship abroad? International Medical Aid offers scholarships and need-based assistance to help students from all backgrounds participate. The cost of an international internship is a real consideration, and it’s worth exploring all available options early. Some students also find support through their university’s global health office, external scholarship databases, or community organizations that fund healthcare education. If cost is a barrier, reach out to IMA’s team directly to discuss what support may be available for your situation.
Why 2026 Is a Pivotal Year for Midwifery Students
The global maternal health landscape in 2026 is shaped by converging pressures: a nearly one-million-midwife global shortage, stalled progress on maternal mortality reduction since 2016, significant cuts to international aid funding, and growing recognition from WHO that midwifery-led models of care need to be expanded worldwide. In October 2025, the ICM launched its “One Million More Midwives” global petition to grow and sustain the midwifery workforce, with the campaign running through the ICM Triennial Congress in Lisbon in June 2026.
For students entering the midwifery profession right now, these realities create both urgency and opportunity. The profession needs more well-prepared practitioners. Graduate programs want applicants who understand global health systems and have demonstrated commitment to maternal care in underserved settings. And the communities where IMA places interns need skilled support more than ever.
An international midwifery internship isn’t just a resume addition. It’s a serious educational experience that teaches cultural humility, clinical resilience, and professional confidence.
By completing your internship abroad, you’ll prepare yourself not just to pass your board exams or land your first job, but to practice effectively in the real world of maternal healthcare. You’ll return with a better understanding of what global health truly means, and you’ll bring those skills back to your future patients, wherever you go.
If you’re ready to take that next step in your midwifery training, apply for an internship with International Medical Aid and start building the foundation for a career that matters.
