World Vision’s lifeline for mothers in western Afghanistan
Working at the only neonatal unit in Herat province, with a population of around 1.8 million people, midwife Sudina Hossini is all too aware of her responsibilities.
As if to demonstrate the point, the 24-year-old has to break off the interview before answering the first question – to resuscitate a baby who was suddenly rushed into the ward.
In Afghanistan one in five children will not survive to their fifth birthday. And a mother dies during childbirth every 30 minutes.
Sudina is among scores of young midwives World Vision is helping to train – 200 of them already in hospitals across western Afghanistan and 30 community level midwives who will soon extend this to more remote areas.
She works swiftly to ventilate the newly-born child, who is blue and not breathing. Within a matter of minutes, after a series of procedures, the child is crying its lungs out and returning to a normal colour, soon to be reunited with its mother in the next room.
The story might have ended very differently without Sudina and around 200 other midwives who have graduated with life-saving skills and are now putting these into practice around Herat province.
This baby, yet be named, is just one of 15 that Sudina saves from death every day. Since qualifying two years ago, she estimates she has resuscitated a total of 700 babies – 700 lives that would almost certainly not have been saved without the skills and knowledge of a dedicated midwife.
“I became a midwife because I wanted to reduce the rate of death of mothers and children in Afghanistan", said Sudina. If we weren’t working here, of course it’s true that more children would die. The hours can be long because we don’t always have enough staff. But the satisfaction of saving lives...that moment makes up for everything”.
The challenges facing Sudina and her colleagues in this tiny neonatal unit are immense. Afghanistan has the second highest child death rate in the world. One in five children will not survive to their fifth birthday. And a mother dies during childbirth every 30 minutes.
"I really love my job because I’m serving my country".
Dr. Shahara Sarem, 32, duty doctor in charge of maternity unit, explains how World Vision is addressing these issues head-on.
“Some mothers travel miles to get help from villages and districts around Herat. There are some really complicated cases like pre-eclampsia and ruptured placentas. Women even come from much further away like Badghis and Ghor provinces because this is the only place they can get treated", said Dr. Sarem.
“We have challenges with technology and of course we need more staff, more space, more medicines – and we need more hospitals like this one. My hope is that this will change. I really love my job because I’m serving my country. We are treating patients and saving lives".
The maternity unit is a constant hive of activity, typically seeing 150 to 200 patients in 24 hours. Between 20 and 50 Caesarean sections are normally carried out over this period – many of the cases extremely complicated.
Tayibe Shafiq, 23, has been working at the maternity unit in Herat for two years.
“The shifts are long and we don’t always have the right medicines for all patients. But the happiest moment for me is the moment they bring a baby to the hospital who is in a bad way", said Tayibe. “I use the skills I have learned to take care of the baby, give its life back – and watch it get better. The mother is happy, the family is happy. That’s the best moment of my life”.