The goal of the three-year UNICEF undertaking called Increasing Access to Maternal and Child Health, which is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), is to reduce maternal and child mortality in southern Afghanistan. The project will expand treatment health service coverage where either it does not exist or are inadequate in the Southern region, especially Kandahar province.

CIDA funding will support UNICEF to:

• Improve the availability and quality of basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric and neonatal care (EmONC) and maternal health services at the hospital and Maternal Waiting Home in Kandahar, the nursing and midwifery school, and other health facilities.
• Train health workers in Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces to treat multiple childhood illnesses at once.
• Support the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and the National Midwifery Education and Accreditation Board to increase the number, quality and deployment of trained midwives in rural areas.

Pregnant women wait to be admitted for surgery. Most women are from remote areas, and, by the time they arrive at the hospital, their cases are often urgent.

© UNICEF/ HQ07-1149/Shehzad Noorani

Sixteen year old Farida is waiting to give birth to her first baby.

© UNICEF/ Anita Khemke

Some significant project results to-date are:

• 15 of Kandahar province’s 17 districts in Kandahar province reached by sustainable outreach services (SOS). SOS include the provision of vaccinations, de-worming tablets, insecticide-treated mosquito nets, oral rehydration therapy, micronutrients.
• 264 health workers (177 male and 87 female) from Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces trained to identify the links between illnesses among children and, where appropriate, to combine treatment of these major illnesses. They have also been trained to refer severely sick children to hospital.
• Operationalization of the Maternal Waiting Home (MWH) in Kandahar. Established in April 2009, it is the first such facility in Afghanistan, and aims to improve access for pregnant women to skilled care during birth as well as provide quality emergency obstetric care for women experiencing complications during pregnancy. Patients admitted to the MWH are provided information on antenatal care, family planning, immunization, breastfeeding, tuberculosis and malaria, and personal hygiene, as well as counselling on improved nutrition for pregnant and lactating mothers.
• 32 health providers trained on basic EmONC (Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces) and 24 on comprehensive EmONC (Uruzgan, Nimroz, Zabul and Helmand provinces).

• UNICEF
• Ministry of Public Health Afghanistan