Limited access to quality medical services makes pregnancy in Afghanistan quite risky. The Afghan Ministry of Public Health, with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is reducing mother and child mortality rates by training midwives and teaching women family planning methods to space out their pregnancies.

Midwife Roquia, in Paktika province, says she was trained to insert the intra-uterine contraceptive device (IUCD), locally known as Ala-e-Dakhel-Rahmy (Wasila), after women had given birth in a health facility. However, she says she lacked the confidence to actually do it.

“I felt bad because I encountered many women who could benefit from this type of birth spacing method,” she said.

When Nooria Nasiri, a provincial midwifery officer from the USAID HEMAYAT project, visited the health center, Roqia inquired about additional support.

Nooria scheduled an on-the-job training so that Roqia could practice using a model. Since the training, Roquia has already assisted 27 women with the IUCD. One of her successful cases included Sakina, a mother of eight children. After consultation with her husband, Sakina requested an IUCD. Six weeks later, Sakina came back for a routine checkup. After the exam, Roqia proudly said, “I did not have any complications.”

The USAID HEMAYAT project promotes the use of long-acting, reversible contraceptives to improve the health and well-being of mothers and babies by enabling women to space out their pregnancies. The project covers five Afghan provinces.