A Blissful Life

It is estimated that here in Afghanistan only 8% of women give birth with a trained professional in attendance.  Many women live in remote rural areas where medical help is a long car ride away, many end up giving birth with only a family member or maybe a traditional birth attendant to help.  One woman dies every 30 minutes in childbirth here.

This last month I have had the privilege of visiting a remote village in the central highlands.  While I was there I attended a Bliss (Birth and Life Saving Skills) session that some colleagues were running.  The Bliss course is a series of sessions where trained women give information about how to prepare for the birth, how to deliver a baby safely, what to do afterwards and when to seek medical attention.

The session I attended saw about 20 women (including 2 trainers) gather in a home to listen and participate in the session, as the women slowly drifted in from the fields where they had been working we drank tea and the women shared stories of pregnancy and birth.  The class settled down to hear about how to tie off the umbilical cord, and how to know the placenta has been delivered.  The women leading to course started off nervously as the foreign midwife sat in the corner assessing them, but quickly they became more confident as they role-played different scenarios.

As the session went on the students shared their stories, of their own birth stories or those of friends and relations.  There were many stories about trying to get to the hospital because of complications and not being able to make it.  Towards the end of the session one lady shared the story of a recent birth where she had been able to attend and know how to deliver the baby safely.  Both mother and baby were doing well.

It was so encouraging to see how these simple training sessions and discussions were improving lives and how the Bliss programme was bringing hope to women across Afghanistan.