by Mary Kate MacIsaac - World Vision
Afghanistan Communications Manager
Since opening last week, the World Vision
Afghanistan-sponsored neonatal unit in Herat has saved the lives of at
least 20 newborn children. However, more funding is needed so the unit
will be able to save even more children.
Too commonly in Afghanistan, premature infants are sent home with the mother, only to die hours later.
Afghanistan's under-five mortality rank is the fourth highest in the world, with 257 infants per 1,000 dying before their fifth birthday.
But now, with a neonatal unit in this Herat maternity ward, midwives are providing care to vulnerable newborns and fighting these terrible odds.
Trained through a World Vision Afghanistan midwifery programme within the Institute of Health Sciences, recent graduates are assisting in the resuscitation and emergency care of several young lives.
Kaswera Vulere, the Midwifery Training Coordinator responsible for creating the new unit, reports that the midwives and neonatal services are making a life-saving difference for Afghan families.
"[Before] all these babies were dying in the maternity services or were sent home with parents and died soon after delivery."
World Vision struggled to establish the small, but much-needed unit, one of the few functioning neonatal units in the country.
"It has been a long and challenging battle of lobbying the Ministry of Public Health and the Institute of Health Sciences, but the team persisted and has managed to get this unit functioning," says Health Programme Officer, Sharon Kane.
Yet the neonatal unit continues to face challenges. Inconsistent access to electricity means some infants die when incubators can no longer supply them with oxygen.
Funding in particular remains a problem, say both Kane and Vulere. To continue their efforts, the neonatal unit will require additional monies to purchase much-needed items, including a generator, medicines and other supplies.