As everywhere in the world in former times, traditional midwives cared for women and babies.
Professional midwifery has a long tradition in Austria.
Already since the 15th and 16th century you find midwives oaths and decrees connected with childbirth. In 1643 the first examination was held at Vienna university, in 1752 the first midwifery school was founded there, followed by the second in Salzburg in 1792. Also in the 18th century the first teaching book for midwives was translated in to all the languages of the monarchy. The 26th ICM Congress 2002 will not be the first in Austria. Some of the problems the attendants faced and some of their demands are still actual, for example the decrease of birth rates in some countries, the demand for publishing the data of the different hospitals, the fight for better working conditions and better renumeration of their work and pre- and postnatal care in the hands of midwives.