COHI & MADRE Support Afghan Midwives Association
This week COHI and MADRE coordinated the distribution of supplies to the Afghan Midwives Association (AMA) in Kabul, Afghanistan. The following was penned by Sunita Viswanath, a Board Member for Women for Afghan Women who had the honor of delivering the supplies. COHI and MADRE are working together to raise funds to support the life saving efforts of the AMA to reach realize their dream of Delivering Babies in Afghanistan.
"Today I had the pleasure of meeting Sabera Turkmani, President of the Afghan Midwives Association (AMA). Sabera came to meet me at the Women for Afghan Women main office along with Saleha Hamnawozada, the Executive Director of AMA because I had brought a large bag of midwifery supplies including a breast pump from my colleagues at MADRE in New York. The women were very glad to receive this gift and will put it to good use. I am glad to share what I learned today from Sabera.
AMA was founded in 2005, and today has an immense membership of 2600. 40 percent of the membership attends the annual gatherings where voting takes place on major decisions. After Sierra Leone, Afghanistan has the second highest maternal mortality in the world. In fact, the highest maternal mortality in the world is in Badakhshan, a province in the northeast of Afghanistan. AMA is present in every single province of Afghanistan – in each of the 34 provinces, a Midwifery Training School has been established. Since the creation of AMA, 3,500 midwives have been trained, and 80 percent of them are actually deployed in their own provinces as midwives. Sabera is proud of this achievement but says that many more midwives are needed. Sabera told me that in this country, 85 percent of births are home deliveries by unskilled midwives. AMA’s goal is to improve the health of mother and child throughout Afghanistan.
Sabera worries about what will happen to her country and her work after the foreign troops leave in 2014. AMA has a strategic plan which addresses this concern. By the end of 2013, all of their training and service programs will be handed over to the Ministry of Health. AMA's hope is that the government will have a sense of pride and ownership over these programs, and will therefore support and sustain them. Sabera made another interesting point: since everyone, including Taliban, have wives and babies, midwifery services may be allowed to exist and grow even if the Taliban take over Afghanistan. Organizations working on more controversial issues like violence against women have a much harder time. Speaking personally though, it will be very difficult for Sabera to remain and work in a Taliban Afghanistan. Sabera is committed to staying in her homeland and working for her sisters as long as security allows her to. Her dream is that every Afghan woman should have access to a trained midwife, and that every Afghan child should have a healthy mother.
Manizha Naderi, Executive Director of WAW, and Huma Safi, Program Manager of WAW also met Sabera and Saleha. This was a wonderful opportunity for these brave women leaders to meet and share about the nature and scope of their work. Now that an introduction has been made, both organizations will remain connected and invite each other to relevant meetings and initiatives.
Sunita Viswanath
Board Member, Women for Afghan Women
Board Member, Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus
(H) 718-623-2611 (C) 917-518-2441
www.womenforafghanwomen.org
www.sadhana.org