Afghan
Women, Midwives, and High Infant Mortality
"I
believe that if the life of only one person is changed or saved,
something wonderful and monumental has been achieved and all
efforts justified. Please be assured that we are very proud to
have had a small association with the projects."
(Donor
to a SAFE TBA Training Project)
TBA/CHW Instructor’s Comments - Dec. 2009
“An
extraordinary change has been brought to the illiterate women
whom started from zero and had no knowledge about health and
hygiene issues at all. Now they have confidence and know about
both children and motherly health issues. The ability of the
trained trainees in order to help pregnant women during their
pregnancy and after the delivery can be considered as a vital
asset to these remote villagers.
As far
as our training program has followed, the two objectives of the
TBA program are related directly to the child and mother, and
also public health awareness issues. According to my
observation, there are a lot of changes being made within the
community and households so far.”
v
Violent crime against women in Afghanistan hit record levels and
became increasingly brutal in 2013. The latest figures for 2013,
for March through September, showed a 25% increase in cases of
violence against women.
~Why SAFE’s funding of TBA/CHW Training has been so vitally
important~
v
Afghanistan has the second highest maternal mortality rate in
the world; one woman dies every 27 minutes due to
pregnancy-related conditions – around 25,000 deaths per annum.
v
The
country has the highest mortality rate in the world
for infants and children under 5yrs old.
· Midwives:
It has been stated in Afghanistan, by an Afghan doctor no less,
that trained midwives in Kabul prefer to be unemployed and
without a job rather than go to a rural area: a fact confirmed
by the Act. Minister of Health H.E. Soraya Dalil on 3rd
November 2010!
Most trained midwives are urban based. The same can be so often
said for female teachers! Unfortunately
there is a serious lack of support for a doctor,
teacher or midwife’s family in terms of proper staff quarters in
rural areas.
Nearly nine out of ten Afghan women give birth without medical
help. Almost all Afghan women particularly rural women, give
birth at home, mostly with the
assistance of a Traditional Birth Attendant, but only
about 8% get help from a trained medical attendant. Due to
traditional and cultural restrictions male doctors or health
attendants cannot help women give birth. More than 25% of
children die before the age of five: in some areas it can be as
high as 29%!
Mr. Shikh Sadiq: Community Representative’s Comments - Dec. 2009
“On behalf of our community, I would like to thank and
appreciate a lot from SAFE and CAWC for supporting and
conducting such productive training for the women.
We never had such an opportunity in our villages to see a
project that the women are involved. We all know that the women
can help each other and bring a positive and fundamental change
to a family. Thank God! Now our families have the opportunity to
access to a (DAYA) health worker to have a safe delivery and
bring health improvement to our society.”
