Afghanistan today faces a maternal health crisis that is both political and medical (Lancet 2025). Girls are banned from studying beyond grade 6, nursing and midwifery schools have closed, and female health workers are restricted in their ability to work.

This has fatal consequences: women give birth without skilled support, and more mothers and babies die in childbirth.

Afghanistan's maternal mortality ratio was estimated at 638 deaths per 100 000 livebirths in 2024 (UN estimates), which is among the highest in Asia. Yet across the country, mothers, midwives, and community health workers continue to take steps to protect their health, from promoting antenatal visits to ensuring that births take place in safer environments.

Every Pregnancy’s partners build on this determination by expanding access to essential maternal and newborn care, strengthening local health systems, and supporting training and supplies that enable Afghan women and health workers to act quickly when complications arise. Together, they deliver antenatal and postnatal services, safe delivery support, nutrition and breastfeeding guidance, and emergency interventions in hard-to-reach areas.

Your contribution helps sustain these local efforts, ensuring that mothers and babies in Afghanistan have access to essential health services.