[The presence of midwives in health in Chile].

This is a lecture given by Dr Luis Tisné, Emeritus Professor of the University of Chile, during the commemorative ceremony of the Obstetrics School creation 160th anniversary. The school was founded in 1834 by Dr Lorenzo Sazie, first dean of the Faculty of Medicine. Drs Alcibiades Vicencio and Victor Manuel Gazitúa promoted the development of study programs and the school's university recognition (1896). Midwives perform 94% of obstetric preventive recognition in Chile (health control of pregnancy and puerperium, family planning and preventive gynecology). Certain designed health plans in Chile such as voluntary control of fecundity, correction of weight alterations in pregnant women, prenatal control, health education and complementary alimentation allowed a reduction of birth rates to 21.6%, infantile mortality to 14.3% and low weight newborns to 5.6% (one of the lowest in the world), to give professional attention to 99% of deliveries and to increase life expectancy at birth to 72 years. In 1965, 306 pregnant women died due to induced abortions, figure that dropped to 28 in 1992. Obstetrical mortality fell to 0.35 per 1.000 alive newborns and induced abortions to 0.13%.