AFGHANISTAN: Midwives defy tradition and save lives

BAMYAN, 12 August 2009 (IRIN) – When the first and only midwifery school was opened in 2004 in Bamyan city, central Afghanistan, not a single application was received for the 18-month course. Today, the school has to turn down dozens of applications from women all over the province because it cannot accommodate more than 25 students at a time.

“We have earned the peoples’ trust in our work,” Saleha Hamnavazada, coordinator of Bamyan Midwifery School, told IRIN. “We have created a reliable learning environment for women and have assured their men that women are totally safe and protected here.”

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Midwives are believed to have improved women’s access to essential health services and have reduced maternal mortality in some parts of the country.

“Maternal death during child delivery has decreased by about 50 percent,” Zainab Rezayee, an obstetrician in Bamyan Provincial Hospital, told IRIN, referring to her hospital. Both Bamyan Provincial Hospital and Bamyan Midwifery School are managed by the Aga Khan Development Network.

Read at source: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=85680