March 25, 2011
I participated in training a class of twenty-two midwifery students in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in May-June of 2005. This involved teaching students in a classroom and in an women's outpatient clinic located at the Bamiyan Hospital.
Students were taught to assess and treat women for problems ranging from pelvic infections to postpartum hemorrhage. They were instructed in prenatal and postpartum care of women and how to handle normal deliveries as well as identify women who would need specialized care for complicated pregnancies.
These skills are needed desperately in Afghanistan as the majority of its educated population has left the country and few, if any, skilled medical providers are available. Bamiyan is very isolated and yet serves as somewhat of a center for a scattered population of many thousands. The majority of women deliver at home with no care and often suffer complications and death. This class of midwives, the first since the Taliban had been pushed back, were to return to their individual villages to provide much needed care and education.
IMA had to leave Bamiyan in 2008 as the Taliban was making a major resurgence at this time.
Students were taught to assess and treat women for problems ranging from pelvic infections to postpartum hemorrhage. They were instructed in prenatal and postpartum care of women and how to handle normal deliveries as well as identify women who would need specialized care for complicated pregnancies.
These skills are needed desperately in Afghanistan as the majority of its educated population has left the country and few, if any, skilled medical providers are available. Bamiyan is very isolated and yet serves as somewhat of a center for a scattered population of many thousands. The majority of women deliver at home with no care and often suffer complications and death. This class of midwives, the first since the Taliban had been pushed back, were to return to their individual villages to provide much needed care and education.
IMA had to leave Bamiyan in 2008 as the Taliban was making a major resurgence at this time.
The Great!
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
I am still in contact with one of the midwives I worked with in Bamiyan. We discuss issues she is now facing in her practice in Kabul and this woman has visited the United States twice since IMA's contact in Afghanistan. Her dream is to study one day in this country and return with even more knowledge and skills. My dream is to one day again return to Bamiyan to continue the work IMA began.
Ways to make it better...
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
I support the current aims of IMA; to provide knowledge and skills to the people who will then perpetuate these amongst their own staff and providers.
MY ROLE:
Volunteer & I taught medical English and medical charting to students in the classroom. I taught pre and post natal assessments at the clinic. Flowcharts and medical treatments for common women's problems were developed and explained to all staff at the Bamiyan Hospi.