Improving the health of women and children in Afghanistan
The health system in Afghanistan continues to face many challenges. However, growing numbers of trained health-care workers are gradually helping to deliver improved health care to more and more people.
More specifically greater numbers of skilled female health-care workers are still needed to meet the health-care needs of women and children in the country. In recent years, WHO has contributed to the establishment of training courses for midwives in Afghanistan. As a result, since 2003, more than 2 700 midwives have been trained. WHO is also working to improve the country's family planning services and strengthen the capacity of health personnel to conduct reproductive health research. These initiatives have improved birth conditions and antenatal care.
This photo gallery shows various aspects of midwifery and training initiatives that are helping to improve health care for women and children in Afghanistan.
Students at the Faizabad Midwifery Training School, established by WHO in 2007.
Farzana Darkhani teaches students at the Faizabad Midwifery Training School.
A midwife demonstrates the proper hand-washing technique.
Women train other women in the use of the partograph, which is a reliable tool for graphically recording of the progress of labour.
Midwifery students in Faizabad learning to care for newborns.
Practical training for emergency obstetric and newborn care at the Malalai Hospital, Kabul.
A midwife listening to the fetal heart beat during labour.
A midwife helps a mother with her baby.
Health-care personnel learning to use the WHO decision-making tool for family planning.
Young girls discussing family planning as part of a WHO-supported strategic assessment of family planning.
An 18 year-old mother holds her newborn at Faizabad Hospital in Badakshan Province.
Women attending the antenatal care clinic in the Malalai hospital, Kabul.
A nurse vaccinates a small child at the Char Qala Waziribad Comprehensive Health Clinic in Kabul.
