Afghan Midwife Delivers House-to-House Reproductive Health Services in Remote Herat Areas

An Afghan midwife is providing reproductive health and family planning services to women in isolated parts of Herat province through mobile teams that visit homes directly.

Working with MSI Afghanistan, the unnamed health worker offers basic medical care to communities where Taliban restrictions on women's mobility and access to male doctors have created major barriers to treatment.

The midwife described overcoming economic hardship and limited training opportunities by completing an internship program with the organization. She noted that cultural and traditional pressures often make open discussions about contraceptive methods difficult for women.

She recounted assisting a mother of six who chose an intrauterine device and subsequently expressed greater hope for managing her family circumstances. The midwife emphasized the broader need to train additional female health workers to sustain such services.

UNICEF has warned that continued restrictions could produce a shortage of 25,000 female teachers and health workers across Afghanistan by 2030.