Education, employment and practice: Midwifery graduates in Papua New Guinea.

Background: Papua New Guinea has a very high maternal mortality rate (773/100,000), low rates of supervised births and a critical shortage of skilled midwives. A midwifery education initiative commenced in 2012, funded by the Australian Government and led by the National Department of Health. One specific objective of the initiative was to improve the standard of clinical teaching and practice in four schools of midwifery.