13 April 2005

(USAID program aims to train 830 midwives by 2006)

More than 100 Afghan women have completed a two-year professional program in midwifery made possible by a $6.7 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  The 138 women who graduated from the training course April 13 are part of the first group to participate in a program that aims to train 830 midwives by 2006.

Afghanistan has one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world.  The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that the country has 165 infant deaths for every 1,000 live births.  Maternal mortality rates during childbirth are placed at 1,600 to 1,700 per 100,000 live births.  UNICEF estimates that more than a half million Afghan women die in childbirth each year.

A primary reason for the high mortality rate is the lack of access to healthcare professionals.  Most Afghan women give birth at home, and it is estimated that only 8 percent of births are attended by a trained professional.

Under the rule of the Taliban, women’s health care and education were neglected, and no midwives were trained.  Consequently, when the regime fell in 2001, there remained only 467 trained midwives in the entire country.

USAID, in cooperation with the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, is working to create a new cadre of trained professionals, who can practice their obstetric skills in clinics and hospitals throughout the country and train other midwives and female health care professionals.

Following is a press release from USAID:
(begin text)

U.S. Agency for International Development
PRESS RELEASE
April 13, 2005

First class of Afghan Midwives Graduates

Kabul, Afghanistan:  For years Afghanistan has suffered from one of the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the world.   But now a new generation of midwives, the first ever to undergo a full two-year professional training, is about to enter the Afghan work force.

On April 13, the first 138 Afghan women to complete this training were honored at a graduation ceremony at Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel.  Dr. Mohd.Amin Fatemi, Afghanistan's Minister of Public Health was the featured speaker.

The new graduates come from 20 provinces. Trained in a rigorous curriculum adopted by the Ministry of Public Health and implemented by the Institute of Health Sciences, the students did clinical work at Kabul’s Rabia Balkhi, Malalai, and Khair Khona hospitals.

By the end of this month, another 90 midwives will graduate from similar courses at IHS campuses in Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat.

The graduation of these 228 students represents a 65% increase in the number of skilled birth attendants in the nation.  They are the first of the 830 new midwives expected to be trained by 2006 under a USAID grant of $6.7 million. 

Under the Taliban, women in Afghanistan were denied the most basic human freedoms.  For seven years, a country with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world trained no new midwives.  When the Taliban fell, only 467 trained midwives remained in the country, and for every 100,000 live births, an estimated 1700 women died. 

Roughly 40% of Afghanistan's health facilities still lack skilled women to deal with obstetric emergencies. The vast majority of Afghan women give birth at home, only 8% with help from a trained birth attendant. 

Following the Kabul graduation ceremony, NGO representatives were on hand to talk with the new graduates about employment with maternal and newborn health programs in clinics, health centers, and hospitals throughout the country, especially in rural areas. 

In conjunction with the Ministry of Health, USAID has been working through the Rural Expansion of Afghanistan’s Community-based Health Care (REACH) Program to reduce the country’s maternal and child mortality rate.  REACH is implemented by Management Sciences for Health (MSH) whose Safe Motherhood Unit is staffed by JHPIEGO of Johns Hopkins University.  Over the past two years, USAID has awarded some $67 million in grants to improve health services in Afghanistan. 

The new midwives will not only practice their obstetric skills but use them to train other midwives and female health providers who work directly inside the home.

(end text)