Afghanistan: the worst place in the world to give birth – photo gallery
Where commitments to meet the Millennium Development Goals have been met, millions of people are now better off. But the pace of progress remains dangerously slow, and while some countries race ahead, others are moving backwards.
Afghanistan is one of the countries which is unlikely to meet the target. A woman dies there every 27 minutes thanks to pregnancy-related complications. There are 1,600 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births but in the remote mountainous province of Badakhshan the rate is 6,500 per 100,000 – the highest recorded rate of maternal mortality in the world.
Oxfam took top photojournalist Alixandra Fazzina to Badakhshan, where she met and photographed the families behind the statistics and the doctors, midwives and traditional birth attendants trying to save women’s lives.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamSiamoy breast feeds her month old baby boy Hokima, in the remote mountainous province of Badakshan, an area with the highest rate of maternal mortality in the world.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamBaguma tried to make the two and a half hour trek on foot to the nearest clinic in Wandian but had to give birth behind some rocks on the road.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamBefore her training seven years ago, traditional Birth Attendant Hanifa used to use flints for cutting and piles of earth for soaking up blood during the hundreds of births she has assisted.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamRushed to Faizabad's maternity hospital during a long and complicated delivery, 22 year old Hamina sleeps with her new born baby son.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamFifty year old Gulzaman sits beside his orphaned daughter in their home in Katuq village, Badakshan. Four years ago his wife Zakria died during childbirth.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamSuffering from kidney disease and cramps, seven months pregnant Basira has sought medical care from a local clinic but the expensive drugs have not brought any relief.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamTraditional Birth Attendant Hanifa holds her empty tool kit in which she normally keeps basic equipment to assist with child births in Khordakon village.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamDuring a private consultation, a nurse at Faizabad Maternity Hospital takes the blood pressure of a patient experiencing bleeding at just 4 months pregnant.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamA line is put into a woman's arm as she suffers from complications during a delivery at Faizabad Maternity Hospital. Pregnant women can travel up to 2 days from the mountain villages of Badakshan to access the hospital.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamTraditional birth attendant and community health worker Osima uses an electronic book to teach a pregnant women about family planning at her improvised clinic in Katuq Village.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamOrphaned sisters Jamila (right) and Samia had to leave school earlier this year in order to take more responsibilty in the home following the death of their mother Ayla during childbirth.
Credit: Alixandra Fazzina/OxfamSix months pregnant Sajida rocks her newly adopted son Rahmatullah to sleep. Rahmatullah's mother, Aquila – Sajida's sister-in-law – died this February during childbirth, unable to get through the mountains to a hospital.
