September 2023
This year we are celebrating 270 years of midwifery in Slovenia, which was started by Maria Theresa in 1753 with the establishment of the first school for midwives. An important milestone not only from the point of view of midwifery education, but also education in the Slovenian language. Adequately trained midwives were important not only for women giving birth at home, but for the whole society, as they have always worked in favor of families, women, children and everyone who needed help and support. To mark this anniversary, a ceremony was organized on May 4, 2023 at 12:00 in front of the old midwifery school in Ljubljana, where we remembered the beginnings of midwifery education in Slovenian, talked about important personalities who have marked midwifery throughout the centuries and up to today, the way midwives are educated and their operation at all levels of health care. A commemorative plaque was also unveiled for this purpose.
In order to draw attention to the importance of midwifery and midwives today, we held an open day in all maternity hospitals on May 5, and the day was also covered by the media. In this way, we wanted to approach the entire society and give validity to midwifery and the midwifery profession also from the point of view of midwives' actions, as the greatest defenders of women, families and children, for a better life and contribution to society. Raising the awareness of society about midwifery and the work of midwives is important, because society and its needs change all the time, but the common point remains the same, i.e. the care of women, family and children, or in other words, the presence of midwives remains from birth to death.
The Chamber-Association, at the Congress of Health and Midwifery Care at the celebratory academy on May 12, 2023, awarded the highest awards to individuals who, in their professional activities, contributed to the development of the profession. In this way, she also awarded a lifetime achievement award to a colleague who, throughout her professional career, was noted as an outstanding defender of midwifery and focused her efforts on the education of midwives until her retirement. All of us who are aware of the importance of the development of the profession, the necessary changes that are important for the entire society, were extremely honored by this recognition. With all this, we must not forget the entry of midwifery into the intangible cultural heritage on home soil, as well as the nomination of midwifery to the UNESCO list.
Saša Matko, midwife, Nurses and Midwives Association, Slovenia