Two days that will change maternal & child health in Afghanistan
story by: MAX THORNE
Afghanistan has been headline news for decades. It would be fair to say that most people will have a personal view of what it is like to live under a Taliban government, gained from news sources and government statements.
Whatever the political, social and religious divergences which exist between what happens in Afghanistan compared with other countries, there is one constant we can all recognise and support. The importance of maternal and child health – this month’s Rotary International theme.
One man closer to home who knows, first hand, what it takes to genuinely make a difference in the difficult and sensitive situations that exist in Afghanistan is Michael Fernando.
Michael is a paediatrician from Yeovil. A chance meeting created the inception of a project to improve the maternal and child health in another distant country, Pakistan.
Michael Fernando, left, a paediatrician and Rotary member from Yeovil, during his visit to Afghanistan.
During a ‘Train the Trainer’ course in resuscitating babies at birth, a doctor from Pakistan sat next to Michael and during breaks they spoke about Rotary and the work it does around the world. The doctor asked Michael to introduce him to Rotary ‘back home’.
It is clear when speaking with Michael Fernando that his nature is to take a situation and use his skills and contacts to bring a positive outcome to it if he possibly can.
In this case, Michael started by emailing people he knew from a Rotary Friendship Exchange in Kerala, India. As ever, the Rotary network did what it does best - it brought together people who could make things happen.
“THE ROTARY NETWORK DID WHAT IT DOES BEST - IT BROUGHT TOGETHER PEOPLE WHO COULD MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.”
On this occasion it linked Michael with Aziz Memon, who immediately said he could help and set about involving the Rotary Club of Karachi, who bought the training equipment needed to support a project to increase the medical fraternity’s ability to save newborn life.
As a result, in 2019, the first project in Pakistan took place, followed by others since then. In all 3,000 people have been trained so far. This success forms the basis of the extraordinary, very first project to take place in Afghanistan to ‘train the trainers’ to give support to mothers in even the remotest areas of the country.
Michael Fernando’s commitment and expertise is well known, so when a particularly challenging plan regarding maternal and children’s health in Afghanistan came up, PRID Katerina Kotsali Papadimitriou, Rotary International's President representative to Afghanistan was looking for a way forward, she connected with Michael and Rameen Javid, who is in the Rotary Club of Kabul City.
The project involved a team of six giving training to a further group of 30 doctors and nurses.
The challenges to taking a training course based on the ‘Helping Babies Breath’ teaching established by the American Faculty of Paediatrics, were daunting on a number of levels. Michael described the rules and expectations the team of six trainers would need to plan for and observe closely.
He said: “We thought it may be impossible and there were many discussions over four months. My colleague in this project, Rameen Javid, was in Afghanistan and key to any success.
Our goal was to take a team of six to give the training to a group of about 30 doctors and nurses. The Maiwanb Hospital in Kabul was to host the two-day programme and this was facilitated by the Ministry of Higher Education of Afghanistan and Kabul Medical School.
“WE THOUGHT IT MAY BE IMPOSSIBLE.”
“The Afghanistan Rotary Club had gone directly to the Minister concerned to see if the project could be done and the Ministry of Higher Education co-ordinated it. It should be borne in mind that in Afghanistan, men may not train women. But a dispensation was granted so chaperones and female trainers could be involved directly.
“Another reality was that Afghanistan is perceived as dangerous, so having the Taliban government arrange our security and transport in official vehicles was important.
“However, before we started our work, there were some other issues to contend with. Using WhatsApp to communicate the team planned their journeys toward Kabul - this also had to be a low cost project, so transportation to Afghanistan was paid for by those taking part. As was attendance on the course by medical personnel from across the country, with the Rotary Club of Afghanistan hosting attendees.”
Since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the health system has broken and economy has collapsed.
Life is far from easy or straightforward in Afghanistan with 90% of the economy lost, so making the course fast and efficient was paramount. All along, the main objective remained clear - enable the people those attending the training course, to train the people who would then be able to resuscitate babies born in remote areas without state of the art facilities.
Michael described the brief, but important time spent in Kabul.
“This was one of the first non-government projects in Afghanistan and a big thing for everyone. People were friendly, respectful and helpful; keen to interact and develop relationships. It broke down real and perceived barriers.
“THIS WAS ONE THE FIRST NON-GOVERNMENTAL PROJECTS IN AFGHANISTAN.”
Mixing itself was unusual outside of people’s own families but this was an inclusive approach. The truth is that Afghanistan has the highest death rate for babies in the first month of life, hence the project.”
The trainees on the course will now go on to teach others, spreading the skills and knowledge far and wide across the country. Just two days of training will now be the starting point for preventing the loss of children from families in communities across Afghanistan. Rotarian principles in action and with an in-built legacy. It doesn’t get any better than that.
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