Training Midwives in Afghanistan

Afghanistan still has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Major contributing factors are a lack of access to primary health care and conservative traditions that make it hard for women to see a male doctor. Most rural areas have few trained midwives and women have no choice but to rely on birth attendants with little medical knowledge.

Training schemes for midwives play a key role in the reduction of maternal and infant mortality rates. Our training scheme has already trained 331midwives in the provinces of Herat, Kabul, Parwan, Kapisa, Bamyan and Panshjer. We have recently received funding from the Conservation Food and Health Foundation, which will allow us to launch the training in Takhar province, and to develop new training modules for the second phase of midwifery training.

Regular training updates based on the newest methods and medical research is vital to ensure quality care for mothers and infants. We will add five new modules to the training; these were based on an evaluation of our previous training and include: nutrition during pregnancy and early childhood, manual vacuum aspiration (a safe and effective treatment option for women undergoing early pregnancy loss), vacuum extraction (a common form of assisted natural delivery, used when labor is not progressing and/or when there are health concerns for the infant/mother), family planning, and maternal and neonatal sepsis (a leading cause of death for women and newborns that can be treated if caught early). Quality of care will be applied throughout the training process.

We would like to thank you again for supporting our midwifery project. Please share our project details with friends and family. With further support, we will be able to extend our care to more mothers and infants in Afghanistan, and save more lives.

Kind regards,

The team at AfD

Links:

• http://www.action-for-development.org/midwifery-training/