# Christian Ministries Combat Afghanistan's Biggest Killer



## GAP (28 Jan 2007)

Aside from the religious angle of the article, there is some interest data here

Christian Ministries Combat Afghanistan's Biggest Killer
Sun, Jan. 28, 2007 Posted: 10:15:47 AM EST 
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In a land foremost known for harboring Taliban terrorists and suffering under almost continuous conflict since 1979, not many people know that Afghanistan has the second-worst infant mortality rate in the world. 

In a land foremost known for harboring Taliban terrorists and suffering under almost continuous conflict since 1979, not many people know that Afghanistan has the second-worst infant mortality rate in the world. 

"When World Vision asked me to go to Afghanistan, it was like God saying, 'Go to Nineveh,'” said Tim Pylate, a World Vision staff who recently completed his assignment in Afghanistan. 

Stories of women cutting the umbilical cord with a dirty knife and babies dying due to diarrhea and dehydration are common. 

Christian groups, some which have been in the country for decades, are helping to combat this avoidable problem by training local midwives and providing healthcare services to Afghan women. The international Christian humanitarian organizations World Vision and Interserve are among the groups working to overcome Afghanistan’s biggest killer. CURE International, a Christian ministry offering physical and spiritual healing to disabled children in the developing world, is also working to overcome Afghanistan’s high infant mortality rate through its CURE Hospital.

According to a UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) 2006 statistic, Afghanistan has 165 deaths for every 1,000 live birth. In other words, one in six babies dies before their first birthday. Moreover, six out of every 100 mothers die during childbirth. Afghanistan also has one of the world’s highest child mortality rates – one in four Afghan children die before they reach five years old. 

WV is providing a program at the Institute of Health Sciences in Herat in western Afghanistan to help combat the high death rates from the birth process. 

The two-year program allows young women from outside the cities to train as midwives to return and help their towns and villages. The students vary in age and background from single women in their early 20’s to older women who may be widowed. 
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