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Manizha was pregnant and frightened. In impoverished Afghanistan, giving birth is dangerous for both mother and baby. One out of every seven mothers dies in childbirth, and one out of every five babies dies before their first birthday. Fortunately, Manizha went to Afshar Hospital in Kabul, where AmeriCares and CooperSurgical, Inc., had just donated fetal heart Dopplers.Using a Doppler, Manizha’s doctors detected not one, but three fetal heartbeats—she was having triplets. Further examination revealed another potentially life-threatening complication: One of her triplets was in breech position in the birth canal. With this information, doctors scheduled Manizha for a Caesarean section instead of a traditional delivery, which would have posed great risks for mother and babies. Today, all three babies—and Manizha—are safe and healthy.The fetal Dopplers are just one way that AmeriCares is helping Afshar Hospital improve its level of care for the 4,000 expectant moms who receive treatment there each year. In addition to medical equipment such as Dopplers, AmeriCares is working to save the lives of mothers and babies with regular deliveries of medicines and supplies for the bustling maternity ward and new neonatal nursery at the hospital. AmeriCares supports Afshar Hospital through a partnership with American Medical Overseas Relief (AMOR), a California-based non-profit, non-governmental institution.
Manizha’s triplets are healthy at their six-week checkup. Photo Courtesy of AMOR. All Rights Reserved.AmeriCares also delivered two CooperSurgical Dopplers to LAMB Hospital in rural, northwestern Bangladesh, where 3,300 women give birth annually.In community hospitals and small clinics in Haiti, El Salvador, Kosovo, India and more, AmeriCares delivers the medicines, supplies and training to help women and their families in this most vulnerable time around childbirth. Along with medicines, we deliver crucial nutritional supplements, including prenatal vitamins. In 2012 alone, we delivered enough prenatal vitamins to help prevent birth defects in 64,000 newborns.Donate Now