KABUL (SW) – Afghanistan urgently requires an additional 18,000 midwives to meet the demand for skilled birth attendance, the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) reported.
The UNPFA mentioned that this lack of midwives, otherwise endangers lives and undermines women’s and girls’ bodily autonomy on a vast scale.
Despite the fact that midwives can address about 90 per cent of essential reproductive, maternal, newborn, and adolescent health needs, a severe global shortage of approximately 900,000 trained midwives poses a significant threat, UNFPA noted.
In response to the crisis, UNFPA has significantly expanded its support for family health houses in Afghanistan.
“In 2021, UNFPA was supporting just over 70 family health houses in Afghanistan, a figure that – despite the extremely challenging operating environment – has swelled more than sixfold to 477 today. Since 2021, these clinics have helped more than 5 million Afghans access critical health services, especially in remote and hard-to-reach areas,” the UNFPA report added.
the report further highlights that Afghanistan has long had one of the highest rates of maternal deaths in the world, with “one woman dying every hour due to pregnancy and childbirth complications” – deaths that could be largely preventable with adequate skilled midwifery care.
“Public health workers were severely affected by the takeover, as hospitals and clinics were either forced to close or rendered non-functional and their staff could no longer make it to work safely,” according to UNFPA.
