Training Midwives in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates (UNICEF).  At present, it is estimated that there are 396 deaths per 100,000 live births (MSF).  Although maternal and neonatal deaths are steadily declining, the number of people without access to sexual, reproductive and maternal health services is still high. Increasing the number of skilled birth attendants in the country is of great importance.

Action for Development (AfD) in partnership with the Geneva Haute École de Santé (HEdS) and with the approval of the Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan, is currently expanding its midwifery training program to Laghman Province in eastern Afghanistan. This September, twenty midwives from various health facilities in the province are expected to commence training. Following a cascade-model approach, these midwives are expected to train 120 midwives. The training course covers topics including recognizing eclampsia, performing manual vacuum aspiration, vacuum extraction, reducing the risk of sepsis and family planning. Our objective is to prepare midwives from various health facilities at the community level with the necessary skills for the provision of quality maternal and neonatal healthcare.

Our Midwifery Training Program aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goal no.3, which aims at reducing maternal and child mortality by 2030. Since the beginning of our program in 2014, over 400 midwives have been trained. This has been possible due to our generous donors and partners.

We would like to thank you for your continued support to the project!

Sincerely,

The team at AFD 

www.actfordev.org 

Reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in Afghanistan

In today’s Afghanistan, women still face different challenges that prevent them from receiving adequate pre/post-natal health care, general insecurity being one of them. Most of the population also lives away from health facilities: in 2008, about 60% of the Afghan population lived at least two hours (by foot) away from a health care centre. Furthermore, because of cultural reasons, women cannot undergo consultations with male medical personnel. This is particularly problematic since female health providers are not available in every health facility. As a result, maternal and neonatal mortality are still widespread: the neonatal mortality rate is of 35 deaths for 1.000 live births, and the maternal mortality rate is 396/100.000.

To improve this alarming situation, in 2018 AfD collaborated with the Haute École de Santé of Geneva to train 21 midwives from the Takhar Province of Northern Afghanistan, whom in turn trained 128 additional midwives coming from different health facilities, in order for them to receive and develop the knowledge and skills necessary to improving the quality of care provided to pregnant women and young mothers. In total, 149 midwives benefited from the training last year. As a result of this training, not only mothers and newborns living in remote areas of the country were able to receive a better quality of care, but also the community was made aware of the importance of medical care for women and children.

In addition to the midwifery training, AfD was able to provide medical supplies for a particularly deprived health facility in Panjshir, located in the northeastern part of the country. As a result, this medical facility was able to provide standard basic healthcare to about 50.000 people.