MIDWIVES announced yesterday that they have raised £25,000 in support of women and babies affected by devastating earthquakes in Nepal earlier this year.

Members of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) held fundraising events and collected donations via social media in aid of mothers dealing with the aftermath of earthquakes in which nearly 9,000 people died.

The money will be used to train and support midwives in five more affected areas and to bolster existing community clinics in regions hit by the disaster.

Funds will also help make infrastructure improvements to the Mangala Devi birthing centre and pay six months’ wages to midwives who are members of the Midwifery Society of Nepal.

RCM global professional adviser Joy Kemp, who visited Nepal this month, said: “Midwives are the best buy in public health and RCM and Midson have been “twinned” in a three-year project called Sustain.