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More midwives presented to the rural communities

Maidan Shahr, May 23, 2010

The student read the midwife oath “I as an Afghan midwife swear that I will serve
the women anytime they need help, regardless of ethnicity, language and religion”.
Photo: Makhfi Azizi

On the 23rd of May the latest batch of midwives graduated from the SCA’s Community Midwifery School in Maidan Shahr, Wardak province.

So far 151 midwives have graduated from SCA Midwife schools which have successfully contributed in decreasing the children and mothers mortality rate in Afghanistan.
The students from Paktiya, Ghazni and Wardak provinces have been in the training for 18 months which included both theoretical and practical studies. Wardak Governor, Mr. Haleem Fedaee and deputy Health Minister, Mrs. Nadera Hayat attended the graduation ceremony.

Swedish Committee for Afghanistan started Midwives training in 2004 in Wardak, Kunduz, Nuristan and Nangarhar provinces. In 2009 the organization expanded and established two more Midwives schools in Samangan and Sar-e-Pul provinces. In every period of the training there are 20-24 students.

The number of midwives trained by SCA and other partners increased from 467 midwives to 2600 between the years 2002 to 2010. The Sar-e-Pul and Samangan students will graduate in 2011.

Mamorak village receives its first midwife

Being one of the 23 graduated midwives Ms. Rahima is now ready to return to her village and start the important work for the health and safety of mothers and children in Mamorak Village, the very rural area of Behsood district.

There are approximately 500-600 families in Mamorak area, and Ms. Rahima will be their first midwife ever.
“When I was home for holidays every woman in my village was asking when I will finish the training. Some of them called very recently, they are just waiting” says Ms. Rahima.

If a pregnant woman encounter any urgent problems a trained person can be crucial for her and the baby. Just imagine that it takes 19 hours to travel by road from Mamorak village to a health facility in Kabul.
“A lot of women face difficulties while they are pregnant and my family understood the need for a midwife in our village. This was a golden chance for me to come to the training and to be able to serve the women in my village” says Ms Rahima.

It is often of great concern for the families to let their female family members to be away from their homes, especially if they need to stay over the nights away from their homes to training. But things are slowly changing. In the early years of the Midwifery school in Maidan Shahr it was hard for the Swedish Committee to find educated women to attend the training.
Now more and more families understand the need for midwives and female staff in health facilities. In 2004, there were only two midwives in Wardak province. The number of midwives have increased to 86 for a population of 475,088 people. More midwives have had effect; the mother and child mortality is decreasing.

Also the villagers and midwifes level of education plays an important supportive role. In Ms. Rahimas 4th batch of midwifes the majority are from educated families which have contributed and made the education more efficient.

Makhfi Azizi
SCA, Kabul