The foundation of a healthy society is the right care provided during pregnancy and childbirth. Therefore, the midwifery profession, which works to protect and improve family health around the world, has an indispensable place for society. The importance of the midwifery profession is emphasized by celebrating Midwives’ Week on April 21-28 and World Midwives Day on May 5 every year around the world and in our country.
Midwifery is one of the oldest professions in history. In our country, midwives serve everywhere from villages to cities, often under difficult conditions. They undertake important responsibilities such as assisting the birth of newborn babies by providing maternal and infant health services before, during and after birth, relieving the labor pains of mothers and ensuring that a long-awaited baby joins the family. Midwives become an important part of our health system by continuing their challenging duties with self-sacrifice.
World Midwifery Day and Midwifery Week are celebrated with different activities in Turkey. The World Midwife’s Day celebration was proposed in 1987 by the International Confederation of Midwives in the Netherlands. World Midwives’ Day, first celebrated on 7 May in 1991, was then fixed on 5 May each year. In our country, the Midwife’s Week is also celebrated. Midwives’ Week, celebrated between 21-28 April, coincides with one week before World Midwife’s Day.
What is Midwifery? Meaning of the word midwife
The word midwife is a word of pure Turkish origin and is mentioned in the meaning of mother in Kaşgarlı Mahmut’s work called Divan-ı Lügat-it Türk. It is originally derived from the words baby and baby. Therefore, the word midwife had meanings like mother and grandmother in Turkish. In Meninski’s Thesaurus, the word midwife means “one who gives birth”, which is more common today. This work is a reference source on 17th century sounds and sound affinities of Istanbul Turkish.
The concept of midwifery is compatible with birth and motherhood. Although the meanings such as grandmother and grandmother stand in a separate place, the meaning of the person giving birth, which is our subject, is not too disconnected from this context. The midwifery profession is defined by the Confederation of Midwives as a professional who takes care of the woman during pregnancy, birth and postpartum period, gives birth under her own responsibility, provides care for the newborn baby and carries out these in cooperation with the mother.
Today, the midwifery profession is a 4-year undergraduate program that provides theoretical and practical education. The history of the midwifery profession is pleasing and reassuring in terms of the fact that a profession that progresses as a master-apprentice has become a profession with academic education today. In addition to the birth and above-mentioned responsibilities of midwives, the Ministry of Health plays a role as both an implementer and an educator in the fields of nutrition and vaccinations for children aged 0-6, family planning, personal hygiene rules, first aid, protection from infectious and social diseases, and birth and death statistics data. included in the collection and evaluation processes. Both definitions coincide with the definition made by the World Health Organization (WHO).
History of the Midwifery Profession
The midwifery profession in Turkey dates back to the Ottoman Empire period. The midwifery profession in the Ottoman Empire developed further with the education given at the school called “Darülfünun-u Ebcem”, which was established to facilitate women’s access to health services. This school was founded in Istanbul in 1884 and was the primary school for women’s education. The training provided at the midwifery school covered topics such as women’s health, childbirth, breastfeeding and infant care.
With the Republican era, the midwifery profession was restructured with modernization and social transformations. In 1926, midwifery training was started under the name of “Women’s Health Course” by the Ministry of Health. With these courses, the midwifery profession was brought to a more professional position in the health sector and integrated with current medical technologies.
In the 1960s, the midwifery profession developed further and midwifery departments were opened in universities and undergraduate education began to be given in these departments. Today, many universities in Turkey have midwifery departments and the profession of midwifery is accepted as a part of modern medicine.
In recent years, the issues of midwifery profession and women’s health have become more important with the increase in social awareness. Midwifery is not only limited to postnatal care and sustainability, but also plays an important role in women’s access to health services. Therefore, the midwifery profession is gaining more and more value every day in Turkey.
Midwifery Profession in Türkiye and Turks
Midwifery is a profession that has an important place in Turkish culture and is respected in every period. The Ottoman Empire, which had the most institutionalized state structure in the history of the Turks, also occupies a large place in the history of the Turks. Midwives in the Ottoman Empire are divided into three: Palace midwives, polite midwives and public midwives. The birth chairs, which were used by midwives whose working areas were determined in the professional sense, while doing their jobs, were called “midwife örekesi”. Physicians did not give birth despite having knowledge of obstetrics, leaving this job to midwives.
The beginning of the transition of midwifery education from master-apprentice relationship to school education and from there to today’s academic education took place in the 19th century. In 1840, a council was established for midwives in Medicine, which means Faculty of Medicine, and midwives began to be recruited by examination, and in 1842, 2-year midwifery courses were opened. Those trained in these courses, where theoretical training is given by physicians and practical training by midwife teachers who have received midwifery training in Europe, have also worked as teachers.
In 1892, the first maternity home was opened by Besim Ömer Pasha. The name of this birth house at that time was Viladethane. In 1905, the larger Galley Viladethane was opened. With the Grand National Assembly established in 1920 during the years of national struggle, Dr. The Ministry of Health, led by Adnan Adıvar, was established and 2-year midwife training was started within the Red Crescent.
The midwifery school, which was opened in 1928 within the Haydarpaşa Faculty of Medicine, began to train girls who graduated from secondary school, and at the end of these processes, midwives without a diploma were prohibited from giving birth. The Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic and Midwifery School left Cerrahpaşa Hospital in 1966, which it had been in until then. After the village midwife schools were opened in 1975 and the education period was increased to 3 years, a midwife-nurse program was prepared in 1978 and the village midwife schools were closed. From this date on, midwifery education started to be given in Health Vocational High Schools and this program was extended to 4 years. In 1985, a 2-year associate degree program was opened in Health Vocational Schools and midwifery has been taught as a 4-year undergraduate program since 1997-98.
