Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

One very sobering indicator out of Oruzgan province—again, an indicator of the poverty and the background of the whole country—is that every year around 300 mothers and 3,000 children under the age of five die. Nine out of 10 women give birth at home without any skilled support. AusAID is working with Save the Children to train midwives in Oruzgan. Forty-four female health workers have been recruited and 25 women have enrolled in the new midwifery school. The work is already saving lives. Twenty-three-year-old Basnura was trained through this program and is now training other midwives. She has experienced the all-too-common problems of women and their babies dying during childbirth. She now takes joy, with this training provided by Australia, in saving the lives of babies, in saving the lives of mothers and in teaching others to do the same. (Time expired)