'Amid War Afghanistan Trains Thousands Of New Midwives', The Christian Science Monitor, 8 November 2009
EXCERPT: "Afghanistan's capacity to address the health of its women has taken a remarkable turn for the better in the past seven years. In 2002, 60 percent of Afghans had no access to basic health services, according to a study led by Linda Bartlett, then of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Furthermore, two-thirds of the country's districts had neither maternal nor child health services, with only 10 percent of Afghanistan's hospitals equipped for caesarean deliveries. Nearly 80 percent of the maternal deaths examined in Dr. Bartlett's study were judged preventable. But today, maternal health is among the nation's most tangible signs of progress thanks to projects such as this one sponsored by Terre des Hommes (TDH); investment by the international community in a network of clinics; and the growth of midwifery training programs. Afghanistan now finds itself in the rare position of serving as a role model for other poor countries seeking to quickly improve their ability to save women's lives. Pashtoon Azfar, head of the Afghan Midwives Association, says the number of trained midwives has grown nearly six-fold since rebuilding effort in Afghanistan began."
Read the full article.
Related articles:
'Maternal mortality in Afghanistan', PRI, 2 November 2009
'UN conference highlights failures to reduce maternal deaths', Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, 28 October 2009
Related posts:
'Afghan women struggle to be heard', 10 February 2009
'Afghanistan needs to double midwives: UN', 26 January 2009
'Living female in Afghanistan', 17 July 2008
'Women in Afghanistan: Deprived of basic necessities', 6 July 2008
'Women and human security: The case of post-conflict Afghanistan', 26 October 2007
