How a Yeovil doctor is helping to save babies’ lives in Afghanistan
Two years ago, Dr Michael Fernando, consultant paediatrician and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s associate medical director at Yeovil Hospital, was asked by the Rotary International President’s Special Representative to Afghanistan, Katerina Kotsali-Papadimitriou, to run the ‘Helping Babies Breathe’ programme in Afghanistan, along with Rotary clubs in Afghanistan – led by Rameen Javid from Rotary Kabul City.
Over the last couple of years, Afghanistan has become one of the most difficult countries to reach from the western world, and this means the people who live there are unable to regularly access the latest healthcare technology.
Afghanistan has one of the higher neonatal mortality rates in the world and it was with this in mind that Dr Fernando decided he wanted to try to find a way to help Afghans to give their babies the best possible start to life.
Dr Fernando had previously led a programme through Rotary International, in the Sindh Province in Pakistan, to train the trainers in remote and rural areas on how to resuscitate babies at birth. After running two Master Trainer courses in Pakistan, the American Academy of Pediatrics asked Dr Fernando to be a technical expert to work with UNICEF in Pakistan, as part of a year-long programme to run ‘telementoring’ in neonatal units there.
This was part of a wider multinational project that went on to become a global quality improvement programme in neonatal care.
Dr Fernando says: “Data suggest that the number of babies who die per 1,000 births in Afghanistan has been reducing in recent years, down from 40 in 2019, to 35 in 2024, but this is still way too high, as it’s about 1 in 30 births.
“For much of the past two years, running this project has seemed impossible to achieve, given the major changes in Afghanistan over the last few years, especially with some of the new laws making it difficult for men to train women out there, and vice versa.
“I have to be honest, at one stage I had pretty much given up, as all the odds were stacked against us, especially as early on in the planning period, it was announced that secondary school for girls would not be allowed in Afghanistan.”
Dr Fernando and the team in Rotary Afghanistan have managed to work past every obstacle they faced, and successfully ran the course earlier this year, which he said was an incredible feeling. “Despite some differences in the country, everyone was highly motivated to reach that important principal aim of reducing the death rate of babies.”
Katerina Kotsali, Rotary International (RI) President Representative to Afghanistan, adds: “Afghanistan, along with Pakistan, are the two-remaining endemic-to-polio countries and Rotary International is a pioneer in the fight against polio. As RI President Representative to Afghanistan, I encourage the implementation of any project alleviating the severe humanitarian crisis in the country.
“The Help the Babies Breathe project not only contributes to improving maternal health and decreasing neonatal mortality, but also elevates the role of Afghan women, and opens opportunities for the accomplishment of more projects in Afghanistan.
“Heartfelt congratulations to the volunteer doctors and team, with Dr Michael Fernando ahead, for creating hope in a country that desperately needs humanitarian aid.”
Pictured (left to right) consultant paediatricians Dr Gabriella Fillon and Dr Michael Fernando with paediatrics senior ward manager Lisa Plowman.