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02/13/2004: "Kandahar Chronicles #70 - 11/02/2004"

Today we were like boys with mechano sets. I spent the better part of the day hauling heavy boxes from a storeroom and packing it to the delivery room of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Ward (OGW). Once we had the room full of enough boxes, we ripped them apart and stood looking at the spilled contents. Delivery beds, surgical tables and trays, wheeled stretchers. We rubbed our chins for a minute and jumped in. It was a bit like the afternoon after a girlfriend had dragged me through Ikea all morning. I watched in silence for a minute while Wali, Rohullah and Sharif yelled at each other and started bolting pieces together without any sense of order. I finally interjected and forced them, against their will, to follow the instructions. “Insert small bolt A into hole 6 on cross piece C and tighten with supplied accessary tool 2. “ Okay. “First be sure to attach self-tapping structure bar 3 to external frame D and tighten.” D’oh! When there are ladies giving birth on these tables, I don’t want to hear any shouting about how tough child birth is.

Okay, just kidding. ICRC has done a fantastic job designing and finishing the ward and now it is our turn to sort through the stores and furnish it. In the morning, I got a run down of how Maria, our midwife, would like to see it set up. She had a good plan and there is a lot of stock that both ICRC and UNICEF have donated to the Ministry of Health. There is even a room and equipment to set up an infant resuscitation room, and an operating theatre across the hall in the Gynaecology ward in case of emergency caesarean sections. Afghanistan has the second highest rate of infant mortality in the world. Approximately 1700 per 100,000 women die during delivery, and 275 per 1000 children die before the age of five. Kandahar has the second highest mortality rates in these areas in Afghanistan. Traditionally, most deliveries are done in the home, assisted by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA). With this new ward, there is hope that these figures can be greatly reduced.