Under the IPPF NORAD-funded project, AFGA launched a Health Center in the Ghulam Jan district of Balkh province. The Family Health House (FHH) in this district offers quality health services such as Antenatal Care/Postnatal Care (ANC/PNC), Family Planning (FP), childbirth delivery and growth monitoring, screening and referring, and counseling services to the children under 5 years old who have critical health conditions. Bibi Hangama, a midwife of Ghulam Jan FHH, offers 24-hour health services to the women and children in the village, who are mainly poor and are deprived of primary health services.  Besides, Bibi Hangama provides counseling services on clean dressing, proper nutrition, and hygiene. Furthermore, she provides health education to the village people for an hour daily. Ghulam Jan village is one of the 137 villages in Balkh province where 1,060 families live. The nearest health center to this village is 15 KM far, which is equivalent to a three-hour walk for a pregnant woman. People of this village have been deprived of health services and health centers for decades. Hundreds of mothers lost their lives due to a lack of health facilities, and still, a high percentage of mothers die during childbirth. By launching the Ghulam Jan FHH, the first solid step is being taken by AFGA and IPPF to provide quality health services to the people in this village.  “This is the first time that the people of Ghulam Jan village consider themselves the owner of a health center. They are thrilled and grateful to AFGA for launching the FHH.” Bibi Hangama said.  Under the NORAD-funded project, AFGA has established a total of 15 FHHs in different district of Balkh province that provides health services to the vulnerable populations in the white areas. Through financial support of IPPF’s NORAD Project, AFGA implements a project with the goal of saving the lives of women and girls through Improving Reproductive Health (RH), and Maternal and Child Health (MCH) provides quality RH and MCH services through a multi-pronged, community-led approach in 11 rural provinces of Afghanistan. n....

On August 25, 2022, a mother and her 18-months child “named Samina” were referred to Ghulam Jan FHH with signs and symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, persistent anorexia, weight loss, persistent crying, and lethargy. After taking the childs history, she was registered with the diagnosis of Severe Acute Malnutrition SAM. The childs height and weight were measured on the first visit, where the weight and Mid-Upper Arm Circumference MUAC were 7.6 kg and 10.9 cm respectively.  Bibi Hangama, the AFGA FHH midwife under the IPPFs NORAD Project visited the child and provided the necessary health and counseling services, including good and proper nutrition, better hygiene, and use of medicine. The midwife advised the mother to bring Samina for proper screening and growth monitoring every week. Moreover, Samina was referred to the nearest basic health center (Balkh Hospital) to receive further health services and the nutrition package of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food RUTF "plumpy nuts".  However, since Saminas family is poor and cannot afford the daily transportation to Balkh Hospital, it was recommended for them to take plumpy nuts with an appetite test daily under the supervision of the midwife. Saminas mother comes to Ghulam Jan FHH with joy and enthusiasm every day and witnesses her child gains weight. “Samina is the first patient of Ghulam Jan FHH and her mother comes to this FHH every morning, which shows the quality of health services of the FHH and people’s trust in it.” Bibi Hangama said. After a month, with the regular checkups in place, Saminas weight and MUAC increased to 8.1 kg and 11.3 cm respectively, which shows rapid improvement and well nutrition of the child.  “This is a great and pleasant news for us. We are very happy and thankful to Ghulam Jan FHH services that saved our daughters life and treated her in the best possible way.” Saminas family said. ...

Immediately after the earthquack in Gayan District of Paktika province in june 2022, AFGA through IPPF’s Stream 3 project, delplyed a team of healther workers to provide Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) to affected population. Hunderds of people were injured and many lost their lives and thousands of people displaced. Many women were in need of basic health services.  One of these women is Surah who came to the AFGA Static Clinic in the Gayan District. Living in Gayan district of Paktika province, Surah is a 32 years old woman. It is been 12 years that she is married and is the mother of 6 children. Her youngest child is only 6 months of age. Surah didn’t know anything about and had not used any family planning methods between her pregnancies which caused her and her infants to suffer from severe malnutrition.  One day Ms. Surah along with her husband visited AFGA clinic and met Dr.Marya Saqeb a gynecologist. When Dr. Marya checked her health condition, she found that she suffers from severe malnutrition due to consecutive deliveries. Dr. Marya provided counseling, she accepted using contraceptive-POP tablets method. She states that by using this tablet her milk has increased, her little child has gained weight compared to the previous month, and has less diarrhea.  The contraceptive helped her to avoide consecutive pregrancies and consequently enabled her to feed her child properly. Ms. Sura expressed her deep happiness with the provision of health services by AFGA and said that Allah will reward you. In rural Afghanistan, the awareness of people about family planning methods and their acceptance are very low....