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MSF has been running a maternity centre in Khost, Afghanistan since 2012. The maternity is situated some 30kms from the Pakistani border and on average sees 2,000 babies delivered each month. Afghanistan. December 2017. © Aurelie Neyret/The Ink Link/MSF
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Sadly, premature births are all too common in Khost, as are babies born with a very low birth weight. Sometimes there are babies born extremely early, even at 23 weeks, weighing well under 1kg. Afghanistan. February 2018. © Aurelie Neyret/The Ink Link/MSF
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After delivering, mothers rest with their new sons and daughters in the inpatient department. Afghanistan. February 2018. © Aurelie Neyret/The Ink Link/MSF
Aurélie is part of an association called The Ink Link, a non-profit network of illustrators, script writers, and colourists who partner with organisations to use illustration and comics for social causes.
We are pleased to present to you the result of Aurélie's time with MSF: 'Hila: Born in Afghanistan'.
The making of 'Hila'
Khost maternity hospital
MSF opened the specialised maternity hospital in Khost in 2012 to provide safe, high quality and free maternal and neonatal care to women and their babies in the eastern part of the country.
Since 2016, our team has also been supporting five health centres in the province to increase their capacity to provide maternal healthcare. In rural areas and away from the big cities, the majority of women do not have adequate access to essential obstetric care. In provinces like Khost, accessing proper care is further exacerbated by the limited availability of female midwives and doctors.
Our specialised maternity hospital tries to overcome some of these challenges, namely helping to reduce the high maternal mortality rate in the area, by offering a safe environment for women to deliver their babies, with free of charge care provided predominantly by female medical staff.
The maternity hospital covers an area home to almost 1.5 million people and based on the calculation of expected deliveries, our teams assist around 40 percent of the total deliveries in the province.
The number of deliveries has grown steadily since the opening of the maternity, and in 2017 the figure almost reached 23,000; a seven percent increase compared to 2016. Additionally, 1,650 newborns were admitted in the neonatology unit during 2017. There were more than 26,000 total admissions in the hospital.
The hospital’s services comprise of an inpatient department, including a 68 bed maternity and 22 bed newborn unit, two operating theatres, comprehensive emergency obstetric care, vaccinations for newborn babies, family planning, health promotion and a dedicated women’s health clinic.
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In Afghanistan, baby boys are usually favoured over girls because they bring more wealth to a family in the long term. Once a girl is married, she becomes part of her husband's family. Afghanistan. February 2018. © Aurelie Neyret/The Ink Link/MSF
In 2016 MSF started supporting two health centres in the peripheral districts of the province and in 2017 the support was extended to three other facilities.
The main goal is to increase their capacity, allowing them to remain open 24/7 and assist more simple deliveries without needing to refer patients to MSF's maternity hospital. That makes it easier for mothers to give birth closer to their homes and at the same time the MSF facility can focus its resources on complicated deliveries, which involve higher risks for the health of mothers and babies.
In addition to these health centres, we are also providing human, financial and logistic support to the Khost Provincial Hospital in order for it to also increase its maternal healthcare services.
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Aurelie Neyret, illustrator, recently visited MSF’s Maternity in Khost to help give a voice to the staff and patients who, for cultural reasons, can hardly be portrayed in photo or video. Afghanistan. December 2017. © Aurelie Neyret/The Ink Link/MSF
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Dr Guilia is a gynaecologist from Italy spending two months in Khost. Alongside Afghan colleagues, she manages women with high risk pregnancies or those experiencing complications. Afghanistan. February 2018. © Aurelie Neyret/The Ink Link/MSF
To go further
Header picture: These four babies, and their brother who sadly passed away after birth due to an infection, were born to a surprised mum who thought she was having triplets. Afghanistan. February 2018. © Aurelie Neyret/The Ink Link/MSF
