Midwife Zebo Rusieva works in a maternity ward in Tajikistan—a country with an estimated 32 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births. Midwives can play a significant role in the reduction of maternal and newborn mortality. However, in Tajikistan, the lack of adequate training has kept midwives from serving as members of facility health care teams. The Feed the Future Tajikistan Health and Nutrition Activity works to address this and other challenges in Tajikistan’s maternal, newborn and child health care system by providing training for midwives like Rusieva.

To help midwives provide counseling and identify and manage postpartum bleeding and eclampsia, the project developed training materials, conducted training sessions and provided peer-to-peer supportive supervision for 75 midwives from national trainer-midwives.

Every day, these midwives are having a profound impact on the lives of women and children in their communities.

Shortly after Rusieva received her training, a woman in labor arrived at the maternity ward. Rusieva examined her and identified possible complications. The attending obstetrician-gynecologist had to perform a Cesarean Section.

At the same time, a woman who had just given birth on the way to the hospital arrived at the maternity ward. She was bleeding and her newborn was suffering from hypothermia. Realizing that she was the only trained person available, Rusieva sprang into action. After assessing the situation, she directed the admission department staff to warm the newborn while she administered intravenous fluids and massage to stop the woman’s bleeding.

That night, Rusieva helped save the lives of two women and two newborns. It was one night of many during which she and her colleagues will put their training to work to serve their communities.

The Feed the Future Health and Nutrition Activity is a $13 million project funded by USAID and implemented by IntraHealth in partnership with Abt Associates. The project runs from 2015 to 2020.