Posted on 16 December, 2014

Photo by Sa'adia Khan

One woman dies nearly every hour in Pakistan from complications of giving birth. The maternal mortality rate is even higher in Balochistan than the rest of the country. The largest but least populated province has some of the lowest national developmental indicators. A third of the women marry before reaching 15 and two thirds of them are illiterate. Only three out of ten pregnant women deliver their babies with skilled attendants present at the scene. And this can be fatal. MSF tries to mitigate this reality running maternal healthcare programmes in four projects in Baluchistan (Chaman, Quetta, Kuchlak and Dera Murad Jamali).

In Dera Murad Jamali, MSF provides comprehensive emergency obstetric care, neonatal and pediatric inpatient care, basic health care, and nutrition services at the District Headquarter Hospital. Here, women walk to the Ambulatory Therapeutic Feeding Center with their children.

Photo by Noor Muhammad/MSF

Ahmed Lahi Daya is a 65-year-old farmer from Tipul Shah. He waits with other relatives outside of DHQ Hospital in Dera Murad Jamali for his grandson to be discharged. 

“We are a family of farmers. We work the whole day, from dawn to dusk in order to earn a few rupees. We cut the crop of rice, we dry the crop, collect it and then separate the grain. Sometimes we get sick and we have to come to this hospital. We can’t afford to go to a private clinic. Since four or five years ago I am bringing my children here whenever they get sick, have diarrhea or vomiting. MSF doctors say my grandson Abdurraman is malnourished. He is eight months old and has been in the ward for the last five days. He has been given medicines and is now fine. He will be discharged soon. We have to wait outside. There is only space inside for the mother. I will sleep outside with a blanket, while waiting for them.”