Lack of midwives causes more death than terrorism
“More Afghan women have died due to not having access to health facilities during pregnancy and delivery than terrorism. The rate of civilian causalities in terrorist attacks are more than 3000 death that 298 are women. While the rate of maternal mortality in a year is more than 4000. I believe that government should rethink about prioritization and allocation of resources,” says Khalid Fahim.
Swedish Embassy in Afghanistan organized “midwives4all” event to focus more on the right of women to health and profession. The Minister of Higher Education, Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Advisor to the Minister of Public Health, Ambassador of Sweden, SCA Secretary General, UN and other NGOs participated in this event.
In an open discussion representative of Swedish Committee for Afghanistan Dr. Khalid Fahim, Mohira Boboeva from UNFPA, representative of Afghan Midwifery Association Feroza Mushtari and representative of WHO Rik Peppercorn declared challenges and barriers related to midwifery profession in Afghanistan. The panel discussion was moderated by Kate Clark, Country Director of Afghanistan Analyst Network.
Midwifery as a lifesaving profession is streamed at hospital and community levels. In compare to past years when Afghanistan was the second country in maternal mortality, today it became as a regional leader tackling this issue.
Now, 4600 well trained midwives are available and 30 Community Midwifery Education Schools are functioning.
The rate of maternal mortality has significantly decreased from 1600 per 100,000 to 327 per 100,000 live births, but not acceptable.
Political willing, lack of financial resources, lack of quality education in private institutes, lack of suitable candidates in some areas for Community Midwifery Education, traditional barrier for women working outside, less focus on district hospitals and more focus on hospitals in Kabul and prioritization of financial resource found as big challenges towards midwifery profession in Afghanistan.
Midwives4all is an initiative of Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs organized in many countries of the world, to spread knowledge about the benefits of midwives and evidence-based midwifery.