Albino Aroso Ramos GOIH (Canidelo, Vila do Conde, 22 February 1923 –

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, 26 December 2013) was a Portuguese doctor and politician, known as the "father of

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marita ...

in Portugal". In 2006 he was awarded the I National Health Prize and was considered, by the

World Medical Association The World Medical Association (WMA) is an international and independent confederation of free professional medical associations representing physicians worldwide. WMA was formally established on September 18, 1947 and has grown to 115 national m ...

, as one of the 65 physicians most dedicated to worldwide public causes.

Life

He was the third of six siblings who, because of their father's premature death, were forever associated with their mother's name. He graduated, aged 24, in Medicine from University of Porto, then joining the Hospital Geral de Santo António, where he later was President of the Administration Council. In 1967, he was one of the founders of the Association for Family Planning and two years later, for the first time in Portugal, he gave the first public and free appointment of family planning. Albino Aroso provided a decisive contribution to the fight against

infant mortality Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...

, an area where Portugal made extraordinary progress in a few decades, from one of the highest to one of the most reduced rates in infant mortality in Western Europe. He was Associate Professor of Obstetrics and gynaecology at the

Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute The Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (Portuguese: ''Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar''), also known for its acronym ICBAS, is a medical and life sciences graduate school of the University of Porto, named after the Port ...

(ICBAS, in Portuguese) of University of Porto and was President of the Portuguese Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He was Assistant Secretary of State in the

Ministry of Health Ministry of Health may refer to: Note: Italics indicate now-defunct ministries. * Ministry of Health (Argentina) * Ministry of Health (Armenia) * Australia: ** Ministry of Health (New South Wales) * Ministry of Health (The Bahamas) * Ministry of ...

of the XI Constitutional Government. He died at home, in Porto, aged 90.

Awards

* I National Health Prize (2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aroso, Albino 1923 births 2013 deaths People from Vila do Conde Portuguese healthcare managers Portuguese politicians University of Porto alumni 20th-century Portuguese physicians Portuguese obstetricians