Midwifery education stands at the heart of the global effort to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This keynote highlights how investment in high-quality, competency-based midwifery education, aligned with International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) standards, is a powerful and cost-effective strategy to improve maternal and newborn outcomes and advance social and economic development. Evidence indicates that universal access to midwifery care could prevent over 4.3 million maternal and newborn deaths by 2035. Beyond SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing), midwifery education generates ripple effects across SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). However, achieving these goals is contingent on addressing the current global shortfall of nearly one million midwives. The International Confederation of Midwives’ “One Million More Midwives” campaign calls for urgent investment in education, regulation, and leadership to ensure midwives can work to their full scope of practice. As emphasised in this address, quality midwifery education must prioritise three imperatives: maintaining educational excellence over numerical expansion, empowering midwifery educators through research and leadership development, and ensuring policy alignment with sustainable workforce investment. Midwifery education does more than prepare practitioners—it cultivates leaders, advocates, and innovators capable of driving global health transformation. Investing in midwifery education is therefore not only a public health necessity but also an act of social justice and global transformation—central to upholding equity, dignity, and the universal right to health.