Mariam*, a midwife in Bamyan Province, vividly recalls the critical moment during one of her shifts at Band-e-Kosa Basic Health Center (BHC) when Rahima*, a new mother, arrived in desperate need of lifesaving care. "I heard an anguished voice scream, ‘Help! My wife is dying!' I saw a man accompanying a woman covered in blood,” she remembers. This urgent call for help came from Rahima’s husband, Mohsin*. The couple had traveled to the health center from their home, an hour away by road. Rahima had given birth at home, and her placenta had not been removed.
USAID’s Assistance for Families and Indigent Afghans to Thrive (AFIAT) activity supports the Band-e-Kosa BHC and provides healthcare mentorship to its health providers, focusing on mother and child health, nutrition, vaccination, and TB diagnosis. Recognizing the patient's critical condition, the team promptly moved her to the delivery room and performed several checkups to stabilize her oxygen and blood levels. "I safely removed the placenta manually," said Mariam*, crediting AFIAT's mentorship for providing the training that allowed her to do so safely.
Once the procedure was completed, the patient's bleeding stopped, her condition began to improve, and she was even able to breastfeed her child. Her husband, Mohsin, was overcome with emotion. "Initially, I was filled with disappointment because I had lost my previous wife due to postpartum bleeding. I feared that my child would grow up without a mother," he explained.
In 2023, AFIAT provided healthcare mentorship to 2,263 health workers, including 1,174 males and 1,089 females across 14 provinces of Afghanistan.
* Names changed for privacy.