Afghanistan’s Bringing health care to vulnerable women
In Afghanistan’s desolate Heart province, women rarely seen outside their homes crowd into this village mosque. They are here for a life-saving appointment with Bibiru Mohmand, the midwife who has delivered thousands of babies. Afghanistan remains one of the world’s most dangerous places for women to have children because of limited and inaccessible medical facilities. The fate of their young children is even worse. At least 1 in 10 will die before their fifth birthday.
Serious Health
Serious health problems are referred to larger facilities like the Khirie Renae Maternity Hospital in Heart. It’s here that Rakshanda just delivered a baby girl. She travelled for five hours by road from her isolated village to stay at the hospital’s maternity waiting home for expecting and new mothers. Rakshanda says she has already lost three children to miscarriage and home deliveries, and she could not bear to loose anymore. The children are sometimes born dead, and the mothers bleed a lot during the deliveries.
Health Problems
The children also suffer from health problems. They get sick after being born and sometimes die from illnesses like pneumonia. Doctors say this service is a lifeline for many rural women, who often die in childbirth. The maternity hospital now delivers up to 80 babies a day, with pregnant women pouring in from across the province. Through UNICEF’s mobile health teams and the waiting homes, women and children in the country’s most isolated corners are getting more access to life-saving health care than ever before. This is Karishma Vyas in Heart, western Afghanistan.
