A midwife is a professional in midwifery. Their education and training equips them to recognize the variations of normal progress of labor, and understand how to deal with deviations from normal. They may intervene in high risk situations such as breech births, twin births and births where the baby is in a posterior position, using non-invasive techniques. When a pregnant woman requires care beyond the midwife's scope of practice, they refer women to obstetricians or primatologists, who are medical specialists in complications related to pregnancy and birth, including surgical and instrumental deliveries. In many parts of the world, these professions work in tandem to provide care to childbearing women. In others, only the midwife is available to provide care, and in yet other countries many women elect to utilize obstetricians primarily over midwives. Many developing countries are investing money and training for midwives, sometimes by up skilling those women already practicing as traditional birth attendants. Some primary care services are currently lacking due to the shortage of money being funded for these resources.
