[First midwives in the town of Bjelovar, Croatia 1756-1856].
The first trained (certified) midwives came to the newly founded town of Bjelovar, a strong military centre of Vojna Krajina (Croatian province bordering Ottoman Empire), at the beginning of the 1750s, along with army physicians, surgeons, and pharmacists. Most were of German origin. The archival material investigated for the period 1756-1856 speaks of 23 certified midwives, of whom 14 were regimental and nine municipal. This period was characterised by high neonatal and maternal mortality rates and criminal abortions. Within the scope of the domiciliary midwifery model that included care for pregnant women, parturient women, neonates, and infants, midwives used to act as godmothers to newborns at risk, in periculo, or to healthy newborns. Although Bjelovar had professional midwifery service, the practice of unassisted childbirths continued in the town surroundings. Unlike other inland and coastal (Dalmatian) towns of the time, Bjelovar has had a continuous tradition of training midwives and maternal health care since the 1750s.
Habek
Dubravko
D
Klinika za ginekologiju i porodnistvo Opće bolnice Sveti Duh i Medicinskog fakulteta Sveucilista u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska. dubravko.habek@os.t-com.hr
D017523:Croatia; D005260:Female; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D008880:Midwifery / Q000266:history*; D011247:Pregnancy