Sakena Yacoobi’s mother delivered 16 babies, but only 5 lived. Under Sakena’s leadership, Herat now has its first gynecological and surgical hospital, but it needs an x-ray machine.
Pregnant Afghan women and newborn infants still have no access to health care. Living in isolation with no hospitals to go to with maternity complications, every day mothers and babies die while giving birth at home without medical help. Afghanistan has the second highest death rate during pregnancy and childbirth. 26,000 women die every year from pregnancy complications. For every 1,000 Afghan babies born, 152 babies die. The solution to maternal and infant mortality is access to healthcare.
The Afghan Institute of Learning has completed construction of the country’s first teaching Gynecological/Surgical Hospital in Herat, Afghanistan. Scheduled to open in January 2010, the hospital urgently needs a digital x-ray machine.
A digital x-ray machine will allow for proper diagnosis and medical consultations from around the world for 100,000 women and infants. With access to high quality healthcare, the rate of death among pregnant women and infants will be reduced.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).
