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30-year-old Fahmida lives in Urmar Payan an underprivileged rural village in District Peshawar with few opportunities for advancement. For 26 years, maternal health services were not available in this community, and women had to travel almost 20 kilometers for childbirth, antenatal and postnatal care. Although there is a health center in the village Basic Health Unit Urmar Payan its labor room was closed because no local women doctors were available to provide services there.
”When I found out I was pregnant again, I was upset,” Fahmida said. “I already had a child, and I was worried that this time, I would not survive the delivery.”
Her last delivery was conducted at home by an unskilled birth attendant, as a result of which Fahmida suffered heavy bleeding and was so critical that she almost died. She did not want to want to go through the same traumatic experience in her second pregnancy, but due to financial constraints could not afford to go to a hospital. Fahmida and her family are among the disadvantaged in her community; her husband being uneducated and unskilled.
Fahmida went to visit her friend in the neighborhood to discuss her situation. When she arrived, her friend was getting ready to go to an awareness session on maternal health and asked Fahmida to join her. To raise awareness about mother and child-related health issues, different sessions are being organized in the community with the help of the International Medical Corps’ field staff. Fahmida and her friend attended the session and received information focusing on reproductive health, including the importance of antenatal care visits during pregnancy, delivering in a health center, and family planning services
They also learned that International Medical Corps was supporting the health center with a woman doctor on board and providing free-of-cost services. This information greatly helped Fahmida and the next day she visited the health center with her friend. The female doctor not only examined Fahmida but performed ultrasound as well. She also ordered a few laboratory tests to ensure that Fahmida was not suffering from any disease or infection.
After her appointment, Fahmida received her antenatal registration card and scheduled a checkup. Finally, when she went into labor she went to the health center and gave birth to a healthy baby boy. The labor room was functional after 26 years, which was a sigh of relief for the community.
“I never thought that one day I would deliver my baby in a health center with a skilled birth attendant without problems or spending a single penny”
-Fahmida
A couple of months later, she returned to the health center for the family planning services.
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