Sep 29, 2010 — Much has been said about what's not working in Afghanistan. NPR producer Jim Wildman sends photos of something that is: midwifery training.
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Young women study midwifery in Badakhshan (NPR)
A Portrait Of Afghan Midwifery
by Jim Wildman
Sep 29, 2010 — Much has been said about what's not working in Afghanistan. NPR producer Jim Wildman sends photos of something that is: midwifery training.On Sept. 27, a young midwife working alone in a rural Badakhshan province health clinic delivered a mother's baby boy.
With textbook midwife care, the smooth delivery meant the mother was healthy, the baby was also healthy — and within hours, both mother and child were back at home in their village.
Such a happy outcome is not a given in Badakshan province, where remote villages make it difficult for people with urgent health problems to get sufficient medical care. Countless pregnant women die when their labor is complicated. Babies die, too.
That's changing now with a new program funded by USAID — and implemented by an aid group called Jhpiego. Young women — like the one who delivered a baby on Sept. 27 — are selected by village councils to enter a midwife education program in Badakhshan's capital, Faizabad. After 18 months they graduate and return to their village.
Once back in their community, their training helps them save lives. One mother and child at a time.
Learn more on NPR's news blog, The Two-Way.
Jim Wildman is a senior producer of Morning Edition, traveling with NPR's Renee Montagne and a Canon 7D on a reporting trip to Afghanistan.
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