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In Afghanistan's desolate Herat province, women rarely seen outside their homes
crowd into this village mosque.
They are here for a life-saving appointment with Bibigul Momand,
the midwife who has delivered thousands of babies.
Afghanistan remains one of the world's most dangerous places for women to have children
because of limited and inaccessible medical facilities.
The fate of their young children is even worse. At least 1 in 10 will die before their fifth birthday.
But UNICEF is working hard to reverse these odds.
By supporting mobile medical teams like this one, the organization is taking maternal care
to the remotest corners of Afghanistan.
Health facilities are very far from here, and people can't afford to travel.
They have to cope with this alone.
Sometimes sick people die, so I'm coming here to support them.
Most of these deaths are preventable with vaccinations, basic medical care and hygiene.
Serious health problems are referred to larger facilities like the Khairia Rezaee Maternity Hospital in Herat.
It's here that Rukshana just delivered a baby girl.
She travelled for five hours by road from her isolated village to stay at
the hospital's maternity waiting home for expecting and new mothers.
Rukshana says she has already lost three children to miscarriage and home deliveries,
and she could not bear to loose anymore.
The children are sometimes born dead, and the mothers bleed a lot during the deliveries.
The children also suffer from health problems. They get sick after being
born and sometimes die from illnesses like pneumonia.
Doctors say this service is a lifeline for many rural women, who often die in childbirth.
The maternity hospital now delivers up to 80 babies a day, with pregnant women
pouring in from across the province.
Through UNICEF's mobile health teams and the waiting homes, women and children in the
country's most isolated corners are getting more access to life-saving health care than ever before.
This is Karishma Vyas in Herat, western Afghanistan.