8 December 2020
News

BAMYAN, Afghanistan – “My life has been hard. I have suffered for a long time,” said Khadija, a woman from Bamyan in central Afghanistan. “My husband told me frequently, ‘You’re not able to give me a son’,” she recalled... Read more
21 October 2020
News

SHAHRISTAN, Afghanistan – “It was midnight on 6 August when there was a loud knocking at my front door. My husband answered. Standing in the dark was a person asking for my help – a baby was being born,” Shirin... Read more
5 October 2020
News

HERAT, Afghanistan – Mahgul* vividly remembers the day she was engaged to be married. “My mother helped me into my new pink dress. She accompanied me to a room where four or five women had gathered. Some of them called... Read more
14 September 2020
News

KABUL, Afghanistan – “When I returned home from work, I had to isolate myself,” described Suhaila Sadat, a midwife at the Malalai Maternity Hospital in Afghanistan. “My parents were worried about me because I interact... Read more
3 September 2020
News

BADAKHSHAN, Afghanistan – It has been a harrowing year for women and girls in Afghanistan. In the first quarter of 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was just reaching Afghanistan, flash floods were causing mass... Read more
27 August 2019
News

NANGARHAR, Afghanistan – Raihana Bibi is a 30-year-old mother of four children – one boy and three girls. Their family returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan and settled in Nangarhar Province about two years ago. They... Read more
24 July 2019
News

Kabul, Afghanistan/UNITED NATIONS, New York – UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem joined a high-level delegation of women UN leaders on an intensive two-day “solidarity mission” to Afghanistan to highlight the... Read more
22 May 2019
News

KABUL, Afghanistan – “I saw myself as the living dead,” 50-year-old Laila* told UNFPA. She suffered terribly while giving birth in Pakistan 27 years ago. The prolonged, obstructed labour left her with an obstetric... Read more
3 May 2019
News

YAKAWLANG/SANGTAKHAT, Afghanistan – Midwives serve in some of the most remote health posts in the world, saving the lives of women and babies in settings that are often harsh and resource-poor.
And their work can... Read more
10 July 2018
News

HERAT, Afghanistan – By midnight, Khurshid, 35, was in serious trouble. Five months pregnant and bleeding heavily, she had passed out at home. Her family carried her unconscious body to the nearest – and only – health... Read more