MANDY CLARK:
00:00:34
This is the sound of Afghanistan's future. In larger cities, maternity care is improving. More beds are being added, modern equipment coming online. [BEEPING] But this kind of care is a world away for most Afghans. We visited the province of Badakhshan earlier this year. This area once recorded the world's highest maternal mortality rate. 6,500 mothers died per 100,000 births. In America, it's just 13. For a pregnant woman, traveling this terrain to a clinic is nearly impossible. Only one in four births here take place under professional care. So even the smallest medical issue can be fatal. Her baby is not good in the abdomen.
MANDY CLARK:
00:01:21
In this case, the mother got to the clinic just in time. Her baby's heart rate was very accelerated. Doctors and midwives quickly stabilized her and then safely delivered her new baby daughter. We are glad. And they are also, I think, they are glad. [LAUGHS]
MANDY CLARK:
00:01:38
Many girls here are married off before they're even 16. And infants born to such young girls are 60% more likely to die. Hemorrhaging and severe infection threaten the mothers as well. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
MANDY CLARK:
00:01:53
One bit of hope, USAID helped sponsor midwife classes to fill the gaping hole in the number of trained medical professionals, a result of the Taliban's prohibition on educating women. More than 2,500 midwives have graduated. And the infant mortality rate has since declined 22%. So why did you want to become a midwife? [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
MANDY CLARK:
00:02:17
"My sister-in-laws died in childbirth. There was no doctor," says Fatima. "That's why I want to help people in my community." But it's help that often arrives too late. This young girl went into labor with twins, but didn't get to the hospital in time. It's her second pregnancy to end this way. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
MANDY CLARK:
00:02:39
"I lost my babies," she says. "But if I didn't come here, I would have lost my life as well." [BABY CRIES] Here, though, even successful outcomes are tenuous. Remember the birth we witnessed? Afterward, the infant was wrapped in the only clothes available, soiled and dirty, putting her at great risk of infection. Her future is as uncertain as her country's. Mandy Clark, CBS News, Badakhshan, Afghanistan.
