A new 24-hour clinic in Afghanistan is a prescription for good health
With support from UNICEF, nurses work a new night shift to provide relief and reassurance for underserved mothers and infants
MAZAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN – 110 km away from Mazar, in the north of Afghanistan, Kaldar health facility has been largely isolated for decades due to conflict and insecurity.
But since last August, most of the country has opened up and UNICEF teams have, at last, been able to start new programmes to help children live healthier and happier lives.
This district clinic, supported by the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, and the World Bank, is a lifeline for the community. It provides vital health services including nutrition, basic health, maternity care, vaccines, and medicine.
Given the widespread poverty across the country, patients are no longer able to afford private health clinics and so Kaldar health clinic is busier than ever.
While nightshifts in health clinics may be a common phenomenon in many countries, they are not in Afghanistan. And there can be no doubt that these brave and committed nurses are challenging social norms. Not only do they live a long way from home but, once in Kaldar, they stay for one week to staff the clinic throughout the night.
UNICEF-supported nurses can now provide healthcare to patients during the night, from 4pm to 8am.
The local community is happy with the extended hours – especially for pregnant women and new mothers and infants, who need specialized care.
In discussions with patients, I heard that, in the past, women had lost babies, and even lost their own lives, giving birth with no skilled birth attendant. There was a palpable sense of relief that these night nurses would be on call, trained, and ready to support newborn babies and mothers.
“We sleep and rest more easily now knowing that there is help at hand if we need it during the night,” one woman told me. “We want this to be an end to mothers dying in childbirth and losing their much-loved infants.”
Arezo, only 6 weeks old, is one of the babies who benefitted from the 24-hour care. She was born, safely, around 07:00 on the day I visited the clinic. I watched her receive life-saving vaccines to shield her against preventable childhood diseases.
Karima, 30, is Arezo’s mother. As well as Arezo, she has two daughters and a son.
She is very happy with the newly expanded health services because she knows, firsthand, how traumatic birth can be.
She says, “Previously, we didn’t have such services and we faced many challenges giving birth. Many mothers were scared. I know some who have died bringing life to the world.”
Previously, in the case of emergencies, villagers would travel to Hairatan hospital, 27km away. But with crushing poverty nationwide, that has become a luxury few can afford.
Karima knows this all too well. Her husband, a farmer, has been hit hard by the drought. He barely has enough income to feed his children.
To ensure that 2,300 health facilities continue to function well, and more than 27,000 healthcare workers are paid salaries and come to work, UNICEF works through Non-Governmental Organization partners, in all 34 provinces, as part of the World Bank’s Health Emergency Response (HER) project.
Thanks to the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund and the World Bank for the funding that has enabled UNICEF and partners to start this bold and path-breaking initiative. It’s more than 24-hour care; it’s a prescription for hope, health, and happiness in one of northern Afghanistan’s most under-served communities.
