Save Afghan Women & Children with Health Care

AIL ‘s health clinics have been a vital resource for people, especially during the pandemic when some other sites closed. The clinics were a source of information on the virus and provided the usual health services as other centers and hospitals dealt with the Covid-19 patients.

Reproductive health services are important at all the clinics. Through August, 10,414 women were helped including 150 babies born at the clinics, 6,353 women had contraceptives provided.  The Herat clinics run 14 Community Health Worker posts which provided contraceptives to 2,439 women, recorded 13 village births and performed 401 ANC and 65 PNC home visits.

Thank you for your support.

Our projects 1155 Fast Track Education and 1073 Healthcare are eligible for the Safer World Fund 50% on donations right now!

Covid-19 has created many challenges for AIL staff and its program management. Our offices and health clinics are open and continuing to serve people. The clinics are providing their usual care including reproductive health care and health education activities. So far this year, 75,976 patient treatments have been given and there have been 60,353 health education attendees. Covid-19 cases are referred to government hospitals and disinfection/PPE kits and leaflets are being distributed to patients.  AIL staff are using tailoring course equipment from Learning Centers to  produce PPE (gowns, masks, face shields) which are distributed to AIL health clinics and donated to the government. 

The AIL training department is unable to provide workshops but prior to lockdown Kabul did put on two health trainings. They held a Reproductive Health Workshop for 50 females and a Prevention of Coronavirus training for 50 participants (35 female, 15 male).

Lilemah, from the reproductive health training, had this to say, “I have three children. One of my children is very thin so we went to doctors several times. Unfortunately, he did not get better. I attended the RH workshop and learned about many topics including, the first thousand days of life, good and bad nutrition, women and children hygiene and healthy food. I realized that my child was suffering from malnutrition, after the workshop I plan to give healthy foods to my child to help him get better.” 

Thank you for your support.

AIL is working towards:

SDG Goal 3 – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages.

Our project 1155 Fast Track Education for Afghan Women and Girls has a chance to win a place in the GlobalGiving Girl Fund!

Donate to project 1155 today and help us get into the fund which provides monthly funds for a whole year! The more people who donate the better our chances!

In addition to clinic operations, AIL runs 14 Community Health Worker (CHW) posts, training the workers and supporting them.  Each CHW team has two members, a male and a female.  CHWs give first aid, provide prescribed contraceptives, care for pregnant women, work with malnourished children and their mothers and give health education as well as referring villagers to clinics. 

The CHW program has been very successful in being a point of triage taking care of some things that do not need clinic care. This has relieved clinic patient volume as well as spreading health education which helps prevent illness in the first place.   Since they are trusted local people, patients are more likely to seek further medical treatment with their recommendation, which is a great help in these rural communities. In 2019, CHWs made 37,912 visits to families.

Thank you for your support.

AIL is working towards:

SDG Goal 3 – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages.

SDG Goal 4 – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Get your Match!

There are still funds available for this project to get matched by the Safer World Fund - 50% for returnee donors, 100% for new donors!!

The recent report from the World Health Organization* shows Afghanistan’s maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) has dropped from 1450 to 638. Great news! But still alarmingly high. The world average is 211.

AIL is contributing to this downward trend by providing health education to all clinic patients, supporting village based Community Health Worker posts and offering health workshops.  Education saves lives, there is no doubt of this. Women want to do the right and safest thing and to look after themselves once they have the necessary knowledge. 

Our Expectant Mother Workshops provide information on healthy pregnancy and safe birth in one afternoon to a pregnant woman and her caregiver. Since 2010 2,331 women (1168 pregnant) have attended AIL's Expectant Mother workshops. The mothers who reported back - 99% chose a safer clinic based birth.

Our Reproductive Health Workshops give comprehensive health information in an interactive 5 day format. Since 2013, AIL provided Reproductive Health Workshops to 2,459 women.

Let’s keep working to save lives and reduce the risk of childbirth for mothers and babies. Thanks for your support for our work providing health education that saves lives.

The year end newsletter for CHI is attached.

• *Trends in Maternal Mortality 2000-2017  WHO,UNICEF,World Bank Grp,UNPD

• newsletter_2019.final.pdf (PDF)
  

In 2010, AIL started a program called the Expectant Mother Workshop. This has turned out to be a highly effective class providing information in a 3 hour session, on safe pregnancy and childbirth and newborn care. Pregnant women attend with a helper and most go on to choose a safer clinic birth rather than the traditional home birth.

The topics covered include importance of prenatal and postnatal care, vaccinations, healthy pregnancy, problems in pregnancy, nutrition, risks in childbirth, safe birthing sites and practices, newborn needs, hygiene and nutrition. Each pregnant women receives a layette package and the helper a scarf.

Shirin said, "I live with my husband's family and work a lot in my house. I became pregnant but several days before the due date I went to a doctor and they found my baby was dead. I'm so sad it is so hard for a mother to lose her baby. When I got pregnant the next time, I went to Jaghartan clinic for a check-up. When the doctor started scanning, they realized that I had twins and both are boys! I attended the workshop so I know what to expect and what to do.  I am so happy and appreciate AIL."

So far this year, there have been 4 classes for 80 women (40 pregnant women). Since 2010, there have been 112 workshops for 2,331 women (1,168 pregnant).

Thanks for your support for our work providing health education that saves lives.