Escape Maternal Death

Women of Afghanistan suffer one of world's highest maternal mortality rates. In 2003, Iranian-American cultural anthropologist and graduate of UCLA School of Public Health, Taraneh Salke traveled to Afghanistan to work on reduction of maternal mortality. She soon discovered that the key to helping women in this strongly male dominated society is to engage men in the process who are the main decision makers at all levels. She founded the non-profit organization Family Health Alliance. While training female doctors and midwives in public hospitals, she started a program to train men in family planning and reproductive health for the first time in Afghanistan. The program trained 150 male Afghan doctors and nurses in contraceptive methods and reproductive health who in- turn educated over 15,000 Afghan men in rural areas about the importance of family planning to save women’s lives. This was a major game changer in a male dominated society. In 2011 Taraneh and her team made an award winning documentary film titled “Where are the Men?” about the success of the program. The program did not go unnoticed. Ministry of Public Health and UN agency became interested in the program and male involvement in family planning program was established as a part of reproductive health training efforts in Afghanistan. Today the documentary film “Where Are The Men?” serves as a crash course in maternal mortality and women’s global issues and is used as a teaching tool in more than 15 universities in the United States. Now Taraneh and her team plan to make a new film. They plan to return to Afghanistan and re-visit the dedicated male doctors and nurses, and the brave women in Afghanistan who have made the male involvement in family planning program a success. We believe that when we produce this new documentary and show that there are concrete ways to help women in Afghanistan and other male dominated societies, more international health organizations will join us and help make a real difference in the lives of women by expanding this program to other under-served regions of the world. We invite you to take a positive step and join us to make a difference. For more information visit: http://familyhealthalliance.org/ http://www.taranehsalke.com/