ternity hospital specialising in complicated cases, fearing a fate all too common among pregnant Afghan women – either her death or that of her child.
She lay dazed, surrounded by the unfamiliar bustle of the hospital run by international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF. She was exhausted from the delivery the day before, but also relieved.
Her still-weak newborn slept nearby in an iron crib with peeling paint, the child’s eyes lined with kohl to ward off evil.
“If I had given birth at home, there could have been complications for the baby and for me,” said Zubaida, who doesn’t know her age.
Not all women who make it to the hospital are so lucky.
“Sometimes we receive patients who come too late to save their lives” after delivering at home, said Therese Tuyisabingere, the head of midwifery at MSF in Lost, the capital of the eastern province of Lost.
The facility delivers 20,000 babies a year, nearly half of those born in the province, and it only takes on high-risk and complicated pregnancies, many involving mothers who haven’t had any check-ups.
“This is a big challenge for us to save lives,” said Tuyisabingere.
She and the some 100 midwives at the clinic are on the front lines of a battle to reduce the maternal mortality rate in Afghanistan, where every birth carries major risks and with the odds against women mounting.
Afghanistan is among the worst countries in the world for deaths during childbirth, “with one woman dying every two hours”, said Stephane. Dujarric, the spokesperson of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, this month.
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