ZINDAJAN, Afghanistan – Early in the morning on 15 October 2023, 20-year-old Hanifa felt the contractions that signaled her baby was on its way.
The timing was less than ideal. Just one week prior, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake had hit six districts in Herat province, including Hanifa’s village, reducing homes and thousands of other structures to rubble. Displaced and sheltering in a canvas tent, Hanifa felt lost and sense of despair.
“I thought, 'How can a mother bring a child into this chaos?'” she said. “But then Rahna, the midwife, arrived like an angel.”
Childbirth after such a large-scale disaster that damaged some 21,000 structures and left thousands of people displaced put pregnant women in precarious situations – they lose access to services for safe deliveries, putting them at risk of childbirth complications as they are more likely to give birth without the support of a skilled birth attendant.
Fortunately for Hanifa, Rahna, a UNFPA-trained midwife, was on hand to help guide her through labour and bring her baby safely into the world. “She held my hand, and her words were like a soothing balm for my fears,” Hanifa said. “I went from panic to comfort in moments."
In the aftermath of catastrophe, addressing the sexual and reproductive health needs of women and girls often takes a backseat as they are related to an individual’s dignity and not visibly displayed as compared to other humanitarian needs.
With appreciation to partners providing core funding contributions to UNFPA’s operations, the Afghanistan country office was able to quickly respond to these critical needs and created a continuum of support from the immediate basic humanitarian needs that links to longer-term development support.
Midwives save lives as they are critical in combating challenges in keeping pregnancies and childbirths safe, even in emergencies. With the right skills, they can help address about 90 per cent of the global need for interventions across sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health. UNFPA trains and supports midwives around the globe and, when necessary, dispatches them to emergencies. Rahna is one of the midwives mobilized to support UNFPA’s mobile health teams, which have been offering medical care, psychosocial support, and reproductive health services to those affected by the quake.
Healthcare workers like Rahna go beyond the call of duty. More than just medical care, they go the extra mile to provide psychosocial support and comfort to their clients. Hanifa described the midwife as solace personified: “Hope arrived in the form of Rahna.”
Quality health care is essential to navigating this danger, and fortunately, Rahna’s skilled support enabled both Hanifa and her newborn to survive.
"It was a challenging situation, but when I saw the relief on Hanifa's face as she held her baby, I felt a profound sense of pride,” Rahna said. “I was able to save not just one life but two – the baby and Hanifa.”
Hanifa named her baby boy Ahmad. “In the midst of disaster, we brought a glimmer of hope, and that's a feeling I'll carry with me forever," Rahna said.
