African, Asian experts denied EU visas for major midwives summit

NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — Multiple African and Asian midwifery experts have been denied visas for a major international conference in Portugal, threatening progress on saving millions of babies’ lives, organizers and invitees said Friday.

The congress of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), held once every three years, starts on Sunday in Portugal, focused on reducing the 260,000 annual deaths of women during pregnancy and childbirth, and the 4.2 million babies who are stillborn or die in their first month.

But at least 20 key speakers from Africa and Asia — where the deaths are heavily concentrated — were refused entry to Europe at the eleventh hour.

The last-minute confusion meant many more delegates may also have been barred.

“I was ready to run a session on how evidence-based guidelines can keep women and babies alive in the harshest of conditions,” said Harriet Akello, midwifery director for Mother Health International, which operates in remote areas of Uganda, in east Africa.

“The world’s policymakers are in Lisbon, and here I am in Uganda, trying to explain to an embassy why I should have the right to travel,” she told AFP, adding that her visa was only denied on Thursday even though she applied more than a month ago.

Conference organizers said experts from Nigeria, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh and India were among those who had been barred entry.

“We need to hear from leading researchers, those at the forefront of tackling avoidable deaths,” said Kate Stringer, an adviser to the ICM.

“Every two minutes a mother dies. These visa rejections are silencing those we most need to hear from,” she added.

‘Colonial bias’

An unnamed Ethiopian assistant professor was selected by ICM for its Midwife Leaders Executive Sponsorship Program, but was rejected for having an “inadequate financial bank statement and an unreliable purpose of travel,” the organizers said.

Two delegates from the Bangladesh Midwifery Society, who convinced their government to hire 5,000 extra midwives, were also rejected.

Visa rejections have made headlines in recent days after a top FIFA referee from Somalia was denied access to officiate at the World Cup.

“Every delegate from wealthy countries has got in fine,” said Stringer, comparing the situation with what happened to “the FIFA ref” and denouncing what she called “colonial bias.”

In Uganda, Akello said she had travelled to Sweden in the past year and did not overstay her visa.

“I have every intention of returning from Lisbon to carry on my work in Uganda,” she said.

Many of the delegates are set to march on Saturday in Lisbon for the “One Million More” campaign, drawing attention to a global shortage of midwives.

“On the march there will be plenty of faces from the U.K., U.S. and Europe. But we will be missing key figures from across the global south,” said Stringer.

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By ERIC RANDOLPH