Maternal Hospital in Khost, Afghanistan

Health & research

Oct 20

Who: Doctors without borders (Leger uten grenser)

What: Maternal Hospital

Where: Khost, Afghanistan

Project period: 2022-2024

Web: Doctors without borders

Afghans struggle to overcome barriers to access healthcare, including conflict, distance and cost. After 40 years of war, the standards for health care in Afghanistan and notably in the Khost province, are particularly affected by the conflict. The needs of women and new-borns, being the most excluded from emergency health care, are extremely acute. In MSF’s Khost maternity hospital (KMH), women remain at the fore, providing much-needed care to new mothers and their babies.

Dr Mohammad Akbar (Paediatrician Specialist Supervisor) examining a newborn baby in MSF’s maternity in Khost, Afghanistan.

We first opened this specialised maternity hospital in 2012, to provide safe and free maternal and neonatal care to women and their babies in the eastern part of the country. In rural areas and away from the big cities, the majority of women do not have adequate access to essential obstetric care, and this is further exacerbated by the shortage of female midwives and doctors.

MSF pediatricians look after newly born babies in the neonatal ward at the MSF Khost maternity hospital.

The KMH covers an area populated by approximately 1.2 million inhabitants. This equals up to 60 births per day and 2000 babies delivered per month in Khost maternity hospital. KMH is Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) biggest maternity project worldwide.