Health promotion in pregnancy: the role of the midwife.

Health promotion is of particular importance to midwives who promote health rather than manage disease and ill health. Although the midwife has always had a role in public health, there is now an explicit need for the profession to direct its attention to teenage pregnancy, smoking cessation, drug awareness and domestic violence. Much of the role of the midwife during pregnancy is in health promotion and a more explicit application of such may carry benefits in meeting Government policy on public health.