Mother & child healthcare

From July to December 2014, Dr Yasmine Ley headed up the neonatal unit at MSF’s obstetrics and gynaecology hospital in Peshawar, northern Pakistan. A look back at her six-month mission. “Her father hadn’t whispered Allah’s name at her birth*. He did it on the twenty-fifth day, when we were...

It is 4.00 in the morning. Awaken by a phone call, the team from Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) rushes to maternity ward. The district of Dasht-e-Barchi in West Kabul is sleeping but inside the hospital, we are in a rush. A mix of urgency, anxiety and excitement is palpable...

I went to Syria to set up a mother-and-child health programme in one of the MSF hospitals in Syria. At that time there was no other female medic in the hospital. So I found myself confronted with considerable responsibilities and a huge workload. When I arrived, the maternal health activities for...

Fifteen-year old Sameera* had already been in labour for two days when her family decided to leave the valleys and farming plots of Jurajeem to seek the help of a doctor. After a day’s journey they arrived in Um Baru, a town in the Dar Zaghawa region of Sudan, where Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)...

Gulatun is due to give birth in two months time, but the baby’s placenta is blocking her uterus, meaning she will need a caesarean section. “I became worried about my baby when I started bleeding for a few days. Someone in the camp told me I should come to this hospital. I really hope my baby will...