Against All the Odds: Maternity and Mortality in Afghanistan

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says Afghanistan is “one of the riskiest places to be a pregnant woman or a young child”. Credit: DVIDSHUB/CC-BY-2.0By Karlos ZurutuzaKABUL, Sep 16 2014 (IPS)Nasrin Mohamadi, a mother of four, has promised herself never to set foot in an Afghan public hospital again. After her first experience in a maternity ward, she has lost all faith in the state’s healthcare system.“The doctors said that I had not fully dilated yet so they told me to wait in the corridor. I had to sit on the floor with some others as there wasn’t a single chair,” Mohamadi tells IPS, recalling her experience at Mazar-e Sharif hospital, 425 km northwest of Kabul.“They finally took me into the room where three other women were waiting with their legs wide open while people came in and out. They kept me like that for an hour until I delivered without [an] anaesthetic, and not even a single towel to clean my baby or myself,” adds the 32-year-old.“Immediately afterwards the doctors told me to leave as there were more women queuing in the corridor.”“Many rural health clinics are dysfunctional, as qualified health staff have left the insecure areas, and the supply of reliable drugs and medical materials is irregular or non-existent." -- Doctors Without Borders (MSF)Even after she left the hospital, Mohamadi’s ordeal was far from over. The doctors told her not to wash herself for ten days after the delivery, and as a result her stitches got infected.“I paid b...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Aid Asia-Pacific Development & Aid Editors' Choice Featured Gender Headlines Health Human Rights Population Poverty & MDGs Projects Regional Categories TerraViva United Nations Women's Health 'State of the World's Midwifery' Source Type: news