Abstract
The national programme of training village midwives in the Sudan was evaluated in three regions in the country. The midwives were found knowledgeable about conditions they were expected to refer for more skilled care and about the management of bleeding. An unexpected finding was the preference expressed by the mothers for the services provided by the village midwives. A large proportion of the midwives were being consulted by the mothers for problems related to children and there is a need for appropriate changes in the curriculum to enable the midwives to meet such a need.