Charity of the Year

THE AFGHAN YOUTH FOUNDATION KEIHAN.

Due to almost three decades of war, political turmoil and devastating natural disasters, the position of Afghan women and children has declined to one of the lowest in the world and needs attention and help from other parts of the world. Hence the IWC The Hague has chosen this Foundation as Charity of the Year. The Afghan Youth Foundation aims to improve health, education and the position of women and children in Afghanistan. The Foundation pays also extra attention to maternal and perinatal health. of the teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortion.

During times of political unrest and war, most every day activities grind to a halt. Health facilities become pathetically overcrowded and under staffed. The area that this organization has made its main focus is in Gynecology & Obstetrics.

The Afghan Youth Foundation, KEIHAN, contacted the department of gynecology and
obstetrics of the (LUMC - Leiden University Medical Centre) for their support, because they have a track record of working in developing countries such as Somalia, Tanzania, Indonesia and Suriname.

The aim of this organisation is to support the academic education of the gynecologists and obstetricians, to begin with in Kabul Academic Hospital. Professors and physicians from the LUMC (Leiden University Medical Centre) will visit Kabul and provide lessons in the academic hospital. It is anticipated that this project will provide the much needed high standard of education, to prevent the high mortality ratio of mother and child in Afghanistan.

Here are some statistics that back up this urgent need:

• 129 infants die in 1000 live birth; in Netherlands less than 10 in 1000.
• Among women of childbearing age in Afghanistan, almost half (48%) will die from complications of pregnancy or childbirth.
• Only 23% of health force workers in Afghanistan are women.
• There are 6.6 nurses for every 100,000 patients

For more information please visit www.keihan.org.

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