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Frances E. McConville: Biography
Fran McConville is a midwife and has been the Technical Officer for Midwifery at the WHO
headquarters since 2013. Fran has a BSc in Zoology, an MA in Economics and was a lecturer in Masters
level International Reproductive Health, and in Gender and Development, in the UK. Prior to joining
WHO Fran was a health adviser in the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), and
also worked for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society (IFRC), UNICEF
and various international NGOs. After being a VSO midwife in Bangladesh in the mid- 1980’s Fran
gained long experience of living in, and working on, maternal and newborn health in Asia, the Middle
East and Africa and is now focussed on strengthening midwifery services through the role of the WHO.
Fran’s current research and policy interests include better understanding how midwives can be
properly supported to provide the quality of care that women and newborns deserve, as well as
developing global priorities in midwifery research for the next decade with the joint Lancet Special
Series on Midwifery and WHO team.