ABSTRACT
In the mid-1870s, the majority of births took place in the home and were attended by midwives, who were very much a part of the community (Donnison 1988).
Born in AD23 and author of Historia naturalis, Plinius Secundus described the midwife as ‘obstetrix’ and the role and responsibilities as ‘obstetrica’ (Hoblyn 1835). In Greek and Roman times, midwives were autonomous practitioners providing care to women during their reproductive cycles. In ancient Egypt, midwives taught the art of obstetrics to physicians (Ghalioungui 1963) at a time when medicine was the business of physicians, and childbearing and gynaecology the business of women and midwives. In ancient Greece, midwives attended normal labour,
In 1902, the first Midwives Act was passed and midwifery was recognized as a profession. Although this was a positive change for the professional status of midwives, the ensuing years saw challenges for them as maternal and child health became political issues. In 1929, one of the first Government documents concerning maternal and child health stated a minimum standard for antenatal care that was very prescriptive in its recommendations. Until recently, this was still practised in many regions, despite the lack of research to show that this was effective.
