Midwives Day – UN Urges Greater Investment to Protect Mothers and Newborns in Afghanistan

KABUL / NEW YORK – Marking the International Day of the Midwife, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has issued an urgent call for increased investment in midwifery services across Afghanistan, warning that funding cuts are putting millions of mothers and newborns at risk.

In a message shared on X, UNFPA stated that expanding the global midwifery workforce including the addition of up to one million trained midwives would be one of the single most effective strategies to save lives. This expansion would improve access to antenatal care, safe deliveries, and essential postnatal support, particularly in fragile settings like Afghanistan.

Midwives: The Backbone of Safer Pregnancies

UNFPA stressed that midwives are central to strengthening healthcare systems and preventing avoidable deaths. Afghanistan continues to have some of the world’s most challenging maternal and child health indicators, where limited access to skilled birth attendants remains a primary driver of mortality.

“It’s International Day of the Midwife! Investing in 1 million more midwives offers the single most effective way to save the lives of mothers and their newborns by extending access to antenatal care, safe childbirth and postnatal support,” the agency said.

Improving access to skilled midwives, UNFPA added, is key to ensuring safer pregnancies and addressing persistent gaps in healthcare services for women and children across the country.

Funding Cuts Trigger a Health Crisis

However, UNFPA warned that recent cuts in international funding have placed maternal healthcare at serious risk. An estimated 6.3 million people the vast majority women and girls have lost access to essential health services. Hundreds of health facilities, including mobile clinics serving remote communities, have been forced to close due to funding shortages, sharply reducing access to life-saving care.

The crisis is compounded by severe restrictions on women’s education and participation in the health sector, which have drastically reduced the number of trained midwives and female health workers available. According to health experts, this has created a vicious cycle: fewer female health workers lead to lower healthcare access, which in turn drives up maternal and newborn deaths.

Worsening Conditions in Hospitals

Reports, including coverage by CNN, show worsening conditions in Afghan hospitals, with overcrowding, acute shortages of medical supplies, and a rising number of newborn deaths. Many facilities lack basic equipment such as incubators, sterilized delivery kits, and emergency medicines for postpartum hemorrhage a leading cause of maternal death.

Afghanistan already faces one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world. According to UNICEF, approximately one woman dies every two hours from pregnancy-related causes, and the neonatal mortality rate has climbed in recent years.

A Call for Sustained International Support

UNFPA reaffirmed its commitment to maternal and newborn health programmes and called on international partners to sustain support for strengthening Afghanistan’s healthcare workforce. The organization emphasized that without sustained funding, the fragile healthcare system could deteriorate further, putting millions of mothers and children at increased risk.

Health experts warn that a complete collapse of maternal health services would reverse decades of hard-won progress, leading to tens of thousands of preventable deaths. They urge donor nations and humanitarian agencies to prioritize midwifery training and retention as a life-saving investment not an optional expense.

“Midwives are not just health workers,” one senior UNFPA official noted. “In Afghanistan, they are lifelines. To cut their funding is to cut the thread between life and death for countless families.”