Israeli midwife Gila Zarbiv is a passionate advocate for the World Health Organization’s view that midwifery is “the gold standard of women’s health care.”
Zarbiv, 41, is a hospital midwife, researcher, mother of four and wife of oncologist Yonaton Zarbiv. She is also a volunteer midwife with Magen David Adom, committed to expanding women’s access to midwifery care and moving women’s health closer to the center of Israel’s health-care system.
When Zarbiv’s MDA phone rings, the alert tells her more than an address. It tells her where Israel’s health-care system is beginning to change.
The call may come while she is working from home, writing a manuscript, studying for her Ph.D., or spending time with her family in Jerusalem. If it involves a woman in labor, a postpartum emergency or another health crisis nearby, she grabs her MDA midwife kit and heads out the door.
