Maternity Health Poor in Tajikistan's Southeast

Maternal and child mortality in Tajikistan’s remote Badakhshan province doubled last year compared with 2009, confirming local concerns about the state of healthcare provision.

Health experts say expectant mothers are at risk because they have to go out to do manual jobs either in mountainous Badakhshan’s harsh climatic conditions, or as migrant workers elsewhere.

Home births are seen as a high-risk factor, but many women in rural areas cannot afford the informal fees that state-run healthcare personnel demand. Nor is the standard of care adequate when they do access it. 

This audio programme, in Russian and Tajik, went out on national radio stations in Tajikistan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.