Save Afghan Women & Children with Health Care

Dear Friends,

Today is #GivingTuesday! $500,000 in Matching funds are available for donations made to all Creating Hope International and Afghan Institute of Learning projects on GlobalGiving. 

50% match up to $1,000 per individual donor per organization while funds last. In addition, new recurring donations up to $100 USD per month per unique donor per organization will have their initial donation matched at 200% on #GivingTuesday. Hurry up and donate!..Read our report below.

AIL has a comprehensive reproductive health program which helps women with all related issues. The workshop program gives in depth information to women in two formats, reproductive health workshops that are five days long and expectant mother workshops which are 3 hours long. So far in 2016, there have been 9 RH workshops for 270 women and 7 EM workshops for 136 women (68 pregnant).

All women who visit a clinic or see a Community Health Worker are asked about reproductive health matters and given health education about this. The goal is to educate women to know about their bodies and what to expect in life especially during pregnancy and childbirth. Afghanistan continues to have a rate of maternal/infant mortality that is too high. Education is key to getting this number down.

Many women rely on the AIL clinics as their only source for quality health care and this is crucial during pregnancy. Here is a story from one clinic:"Ghandigul was referred to our clinic for her labor pains. The mother was so frustrated and was weeping. When we checked her personal case of illness and her vital signs, we figured out that she had lost many children as soon as she gave birth.

The examination showed that she was expected twin babies this time. She was dilating but she wanted to go home to the desert even in this condition.  The first baby’s position was vertex and the second one was in breech. We were able to resolve this and persuade the mother to give birth in the clinic.   The two children were born and both had 8 Apgar scores after giving them artificial respiration and oxygen.    The patient’s helper was very happy and told us that if the patient did not give birth today, she would have taken her to the desert with us. Who knows where and how she would have delivered her children? I am sure she would have lost her son again. The patient said that she could not believe that she was finally a mother.  I prescribed the patient medicine and after they got the prescription they went home". 

 Thank you for your support.

What happens when you set out with a mission and a goal and you find yourself at the end of a road with no outlet? This happens with projects. You know what you want to achieve but you hit an obstacle in the process and need to revamp your strategy.

 The problem? Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world. Almost all Afghan women deliver their babies at home with traditional birth attendants (TBAs) who are not educated, lack knowledge about hygiene and other personal health issues and believe in myths and superstitions which perpetuate unhealthy choices and cost lives and suffering. In addition, there were very few trained Afghan female nurses, midwives or health educators. AIL’s ultimate goal was to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rate.

What did AIL decide to do? Beginning in 1996 in the Pakistan refugee camps, AIL operated health clinics for women and gave all patients health education.  AIL began training the traditional TBAs.   AIL also started training female high school graduates as health educators. But this was not enough. AIL then  developed a two-year, post-secondary course to train Afghan female high school graduates as nurses, midwives and health educators so that Afghan women would have highly trained females to go to for pre natal and post natal care and delivery. The course was excellent and graduates were immediately hired by the best refugee clinics and hospitals and women began going to have their babies delivered by the midwives and listen to their advice.  When the Taliban were defeated and refugees began returning to Afghanistan, AIL continued training TBAs in villages, and AIL also opened another nurse/health educator/midwife course in Kabul.  Again it was very successful.

 The obstacles? As the Afghan government began to organize its various ministries, the health ministry first decided that no TBAs should be trained anymore because they were not educated, so AIL had to stop training TBAs.  Next, the health ministry set up requirements for courses training midwives which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for facilities.  AIL didn’t have the funds and had to close the course in Afghanistan.

What was AIL now going to do to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates?  Precluded from training TBAs and graduating highly qualified midwives, AIL decided to focus on educating the mothers directly by giving them the information on hygiene and nutrition that they needed and encouraging them to deliver at clinics or hospitals or with trained midwives.  This had to be handled carefully as this is a highly personal issue for Afghans.  AIL began offering a half day Expectant Mother class for expectant mothers and one care-giver (mother, sister or TBA)           for women who came to AIL-operated clinics.  Because AIL was trusted, AIL was able to hold two classes.  The information was highly useful and the participants were also given reasons for why they should deliver at a health facility or with a trained person.  Word spread about the usefulness of the classes and AIL now has a waiting list for the classes.  What is most important are the results.  Since 2010, over 1500 women have attended Expectant Mother classes.  There have been no maternal deaths and only one still born and presently all women who attend the classes report that they have delivered in a clinic, hospital or with a trained midwife.  In addition, class participants report that they have told many more women about what they learned in the class. Achieving the goal is an ongoing process, but what was learned here is that AIL did not give up on their mission. AIL overcame the barriers placed before them by stepping back and altering their format in a way that was successful and achievable within the constraints placed upon them.

Thank you for your continued support.