Careers

Midwifery Board Exam Guide 2026 - How to Become a Licensed Midwife

Complete midwifery guide - the BS Midwifery and diploma routes, the Midwifery Licensure Exam under RA 7392, the barangay health station career backbone, and the birthing-clinic ownership path.

LisensyaPrep Team•August 17, 2026•7 min read

Midwifery is the quiet backbone of Philippine maternal care — licensed midwives staff the barangay health stations and rural health units where most Filipino pregnancies are actually monitored — and it offers one of the most accessible entries into licensed health practice, including a rare ownership path. Here is the road.

The Educational Routes

Two tracks lead to the board under the profession's framework:

•BS Midwifery — the four-year degree route, increasingly the standard and the base for supervisory and academic advancement

•The Diploma in Midwifery — the historic shorter route (commonly two years) still offered by various institutions

Both center on the profession's clinical core: supervised actual deliveries and maternal-newborn care cases — the hands-on requirements that are midwifery education's defining feature. Verify each school's CHED recognition and the Board's current educational requirements when choosing a program.

The Midwifery Licensure Examination

Administered by the PRC Board of Midwifery under RA 7392 (the Philippine Midwifery Act of 1992):

•Coverage spans the maternal-care spectrum: obstetrics (normal pregnancy, labor, delivery, and puerperium), newborn care, family planning, community health and nutrition, and professional ethics and jurisprudence

•Passing follows standard PRC logic — a 75% general average with per-subject minimums per the Act's rules; confirm the current computation with the Board when applying

•Confirm the current year's exam schedule on the official PRC calendar when applying

After the License: the Career Map

•Government health service — the profession's backbone: midwife items in barangay health stations and RHUs exist across every municipality in the country, on salary-grade pay with RA 1080 eligibility — arguably the most geographically distributed government health employment there is

•Hospitals and lying-in clinics — delivery-room and maternity staffing

•The ownership path: licensed midwives may establish birthing homes/lying-in clinics within their legal scope and DOH licensing standards — a genuine practice-ownership route on a two-to-four-year educational investment, unmatched at that entry cost anywhere else in health care

•The ladder: many midwives later bridge to nursing or specialize toward supervisory public-health roles

The Honest Realities

Midwifery pay at entry is allied-health modest, and the work is genuinely front-line — night deliveries, community rounds, referral judgment calls where the nearest hospital is hours away. What the profession offers in exchange: employment demand in every municipality in the country, the earliest ownership path in Philippine health care, and work whose meaning requires no explanation. For students weighing health careers by investment-to-license ratio, midwifery deserves a far closer look than it usually gets.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I become a licensed midwife?

Complete BS Midwifery (four years) or the diploma route, including the required supervised delivery cases, then pass the Midwifery Licensure Exam under RA 7392.

Can midwives open their own clinic?

Licensed midwives may establish birthing homes within their legal scope and DOH licensing standards — one of the most accessible ownership paths in Philippine health care.

Where do most midwives work?

Government health service — barangay health stations and rural health units across every municipality — plus hospitals and lying-in clinics.

What is the passing grade for the midwifery board?

A 75% general average with per-subject minimums per the Act's rules — confirm the current computation with the PRC Board of Midwifery.

Test Your Knowledge!

Put what you learned into practice with our gamified quiz. Battle the boss and earn your license piece.

⚔️ Start Quiz →

Leaderboard