Farmer cum midwife, Margaret Afriyie, has won the Ashanti Regional (of Ghana) Best Midwife Award at an event held to celebrate midwives across the globe.

The program which was originally scheduled to come off in May this year, had to be postponed to the 8th of October, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event saw 21 midwives from some teaching hospitals and other health facilities in Ghana receive awards for their impressive contributions towards maternal healthcare in Ghana.

Margaret was awarded for her immense dedication to supporting mothers and women in general, in Ahwerewamu, a community of about 6,000 people.

Prior to taking up her post at the Ahwerewamu Community Health-based Planning Services (CHPS) compound, the rate of home deliveries of babies in the community was high, exposing most women to birth related risks.

Margaret arrived in Ahwerewamu three years ago, with a set objective to help mitigate the problem.

To facilitate this drive, she provides free breakfast, baby diapers and two tins of milk to every pregnant woman who delivers at her facility.

Despite being the only midwife of one of two such facilities, the community has seen a massive improvement in hospital based child deliveries and overall maternity care.

Aside midwifery, Margaret is also a farmer, cultivating cabbage on a 10 acre farmland. She has averaged a harvest not below 10,000 heads of cabbage each harvest season over the last 2 years.

Her produce is in such high demand across the country that she now funds her “motivational giveaways” at the health facility with proceeds from the sale of her cabbage.

“I feel very happy and fulfilled because through this initiative, a lot of the community members have jobs on the farm, and getting more enlightened through the education we provide them.

They also understand the importance of strictly attending antenatal and postnatal care and services” she said.

Margaret is also the winner of the 2019 Miss Agriculture Ghana Project Pageant, after she partook in the 13-week competition with other women with interests in agriculture.