Mohmand, Khalil Ahmad2014-06-202014-06-202013-08-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/18701In the immediate post conflict period, Afghanistan's health services were in a deplorable and chaotic state. Access and utilization of reproductive health services and skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth, and the first month after delivery are key to saving those women at risk of dying due to pregnancy and childbirth complications. In a society where women seek care only from female providers, one barrier to expansion of services was the lack of qualified female health workers who could be deployed to remote health facilities. Very few midwives who had trained in Kabul or other big cities were willing to work in rural areas, and there were no education facilities and too few female school graduates who could be trained in the provinces. As maternal health was one of the top priorities of the health sector, the shortage of midwives to provide reproductive health services had to be tackled urgently. Hence the Community Midwifery Education (CME) Program was created. The program aimed not only to train more midwives, but also to ensure both their initial deployment in remote health facilities as well as good retention rates. These aims were realized through the creation of a new health cadre known as "community midwives," along with new competency-based curricula; establishment of CME schools in each province; relaxation of the admission criteria for students; and establishment of a strong accreditation board to ensure qualified midwives were trained by the program. The program's success is attributed to stakeholder strong engagement, equity, and strengthened human resource for health. The program should be expanded to address the continuing shortage of midwives. The Mnistry of Public Health considers the program a successful intervention and believes that there is great potential to replicate this model to train other health professionals and tackle the shortage of other human resources for health.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOABORTIONACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICESACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICESANTENATAL CAREBABIESBABYBASIC HEALTH SERVICESBASIC REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHBASIC REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICESBEHAVIOR CHANGEBIG CITIESBIRTH ATTENDANTBIRTH ATTENDANTSCARE DURING PREGNANCYCHILD CARECHILD HEALTHCHILD HEALTH SERVICESCHILDBIRTHCHILDBIRTH COMPLICATIONSCHILDBIRTHSCLINICSCOMMUNITY HEALTHCOMPLICATIONS OF PREGNANCYCOMPREHENSIVE CARECULTURAL PRACTICESCULTURAL REALITIESDELIVERY CAREDISEASEDOCTORDOCTORSDYINGEDUCATION FOR GIRLSEDUCATION OF WOMENEMERGENCY CAREEMERGENCY OBSTETRIC CAREEQUAL ACCESSEQUAL RIGHTSFAMILIESFAMILY CAREFAMILY CARE INTERNATIONALFAMILY PLANNINGFAMILY SUPPORTFATHERFEMALEFEMALE PROVIDERSFOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONSFORMS OF DISCRIMINATIONGENDERGENDER ISSUESGENDER MAINSTREAMINGGENDER SENSITIVITYGYNECOLOGYHEALTH CAREHEALTH CARE PROVIDERSHEALTH CARE SERVICESHEALTH CARE SYSTEMHEALTH CARE WORKERSHEALTH CENTERSHEALTH COMMITTEESHEALTH FACILITIESHEALTH INDICATORSHEALTH MANAGEMENTHEALTH OF MOTHERSHEALTH OF WOMENHEALTH POLICYHEALTH PROBLEMSHEALTH PROFESSIONALSHEALTH PROMOTIONHEALTH PROVIDERSHEALTH SECTORHEALTH SERVICEHEALTH SERVICE PROVIDERSHEALTH SERVICESHEALTH SPECIALISTHEALTH STRATEGYHEALTH SYSTEMHEALTH TARGETSHEALTH WORKERSHEALTH WORKFORCEHEALTH-SEEKING BEHAVIORHOSPITALHOSPITALSHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN DIGNITYHUMAN RESOURCESHUMAN RIGHTSHUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDSHUSBANDSINFANTINFANT HEALTHINFECTION PREVENTIONINFORMATION SYSTEMINTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF MIDWIVESINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GYNECOLOGYINTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONSINTERVENTIONJOB OPPORTUNITIESJOURNAL OF WOMENLEVELS OF EDUCATIONLIVE BIRTHLIVE BIRTHSLOCAL COMMUNITIESMALE HEALTHMARRIED WOMENMATERNAL CAREMATERNAL DEATHMATERNAL DEATHSMATERNAL HEALTHMATERNAL MORBIDITYMATERNAL MORTALITYMATERNAL MORTALITY RATIOMEDICAL BULLETINMEDICINEMIDWIFEMIDWIFERYMIDWIFESMIDWIVESMILLENNIUM DECLARATIONMILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALSMINISTRY OF EDUCATIONMINISTRY OF HEALTHMORBIDITYMORTALITYMORTALITY RATEMOTHERNATIONAL HEALTH POLICYNATIONAL HEALTH SYSTEMNATIONAL LEVELNATIONAL POLICYNEONATAL HEALTHNEONATAL MORTALITYNEWBORNNEWBORN CARENEWBORN HEALTHNEWBORNSNUMBER OF PEOPLENURSENURSESNURSINGNUTRITIONOBSTETRIC SERVICESOBSTETRICSOPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMENOUTREACH ACTIVITIESPATIENTPATIENTSPERSONAL BEHAVIORPHYSICIANPHYSIOTHERAPISTSPOLICY LEVELPOLICY MAKERSPOLICY-MAKING PROCESSPOPULATION DISCUSSIONPOSTNATAL CAREPREGNANCIESPREGNANCYPREGNANCY COMPLICATIONSPREGNANCY-RELATED CAUSESPREGNANT WOMANPRIMARY HEALTH CAREPRIMARY HEALTH FACILITIESPRIMARY HEALTH SERVICESPROGNOSISPROGRESSPROVINCIAL HOSPITALPROVINCIAL HOSPITALSPROVISION OF SERVICESPUBLIC HEALTHPUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALSQUALITY OF CAREQUALITY OF EDUCATIONQUALITY OF SERVICESRELIGIOUS LEADERSREPRODUCTIVE AGEREPRODUCTIVE AGE MORTALITYREPRODUCTIVE HEALTHREPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICESREPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARERESPECTRURAL AREASRURAL COMMUNITIESSAFE MOTHERHOODSCIENTIFIC EVIDENCESERVICE DELIVERYSERVICE PROVIDERSERVICE PROVIDERSSERVICE PROVISIONSERVICES TO WOMENSEXSEXUALITYSKILLED ATTENDANCESKILLED ATTENDANTSSKILLED BIRTH ATTENDANCESKILLED BIRTH ATTENDANTSSKILLED CARESOCIAL COMMISSIONSOCIAL MARKETINGSOCIAL STATUSSPECIALISTSPECIALISTSTECHNICAL ASSISTANCETECHNICAL CAPACITYTRADITIONAL BIRTH ATTENDANTSTRADITIONAL HEALERSUNFPAUNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUNDUNSAFE ABORTIONURBAN POPULATIONSVULNERABILITYWOMANWOMEN'S HEALTHWORKERSWORKFORCEWORKING CONDITIONSWORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION10.1596/18701