Save Maternal and Infant Lives in Pakistan

Dear HOPE Friends,

True Narration of the Life of a Pregnant Mother Saved ‍ by Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla

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Here's a personal narration by HOPE Pakistan Founder, Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla in which she recounts a perilous night's events in January 2024. This life-saving event occurred during the HOPE Pakistan Team's regular trips to Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas of Pakistan .

Some Background:

Over the years we've been slowly working to improve access to healthcare in rural and remote areas of Pakistan as well as underserved slums . Due to poverty ‍ rates of approximately 25 to 40%, inadequate and sub-par healthcare (along with rising illiteracy ) still remains the most predominant force underlying the vitality of Pakistan as a whole.

In particular, we have taken active steps to reduce Pakistan's Maternal and Infant Mortality rates. We've tackled the window of opportunity that has presented itself in which research-backed statistics prove that up to 33% of Maternal deaths and 80% of Infant deaths in Pakistan are preventable.

Along the way, we have been extremely blessed to have the support of thousands who have allowed us to reach underserved areas and work towards making a difference. True statistical change occurs over a period of years and decades - it's only then that we can step away and examine the overall impact our efforts have had on the landscape of poverty ‍ as a whole. However, on an everyday basis, we are blessed to be making a tangible impact in the lives of many. We would like to share some of those stories in order to bring these people to life and illustrate the impact of sincere gestures and how planting a seed can have massive ramifications.

Inspiration and Acknowledgment:

Just as we are working within the windows of opportunity _that present themselves to us, we've been blessed to have the support of donors and organizations who have recognized these windows of opportunity and took action to work with our team. One of the most transformative impacts has come from Yusuf Foundation.

Yusuf Foundation was inspired by a dream to bring healthcare to rural areas in Pakistan , driven by a personal account of one member of the family and knowing how much her own mother ‍ struggled due to giving birth in her own home . This dream sparked the fuel for Yusuf Foundation and in 2021, Yusuf Foundation put their trust in us to construct three Maternal and Child Healthcare Centers in the Northern Areas of Pakistan .

Over the next year and a half , we worked to launch these health centers , and by the Grace of God, they have become larger than life, each currently serving over 30,000 villagers per year. In the past six months, we expanded the centers, including our Azad Kashmir one (constructed largely by Darul Sadaqa786 and private donors) to 12 hour per day operations. By 2025, Yusuf Foundation has generously pledged to have these centers operating almost as mini-hospitals and open for services 24 hours per day. By then, we expect the capacity to double, and the in-patient capacity to increase ten-fold . By 2025, we anticipate reaching 200,000 patients in all four facilities .

Dr. Mubina's narrative is a testament to the power of inspiration and good intentions . Yusuf Foundation's MCHC's have become larger than life and a central aspect to these villages . Just in the next trip after the establishment of the Mansehra Center, Dr. Mubina was presented with a letter signed by the village elders in which appreciation and gratitude were expressed along with the desire for longer hours.

These communities were in such dire need of access to affordable and quality medical care that these MCHCs are becoming larger than life and taking on an even greater role to the communities than we ever anticipated.

The mere presence of a medical facility in these areas has given hope to thousands of villagers who could not access healthcare due to cost and/or distance.“It was a dark night and I was sleeping in the Maternal & Child Health Center in a remote village around 20 miles away from Mansehra, KPK , Pakistan .

Here is Dr. Mubina's Narration:

"It was a dark night . Around 2:00/2:30 am, we were awakened by a knock at the door . A young man ‍ walked in, carrying in his arms an approximately 25 year old woman . Behind him was his mother in law.

They came in, the woman was completely collapsed, and she was hardly breathing . In fact, her breathing was very shallow.

It was an emergency . I tried to revive the woman, but she was not responding. She was completely collapsed and unconscious ‍.

I tried passing an IV, but her veins were collapsed. I could not feel her pulse, nor was her blood pressure measurable.

The [mother in law] starting crying and me and my staff started preparing emergency measures. We gave her some oxygen . Since it was difficult to find the vein, I immediately passed a nasogastric tube.

She had been vomiting at home and was a few months pregnant . Her veins started becoming visible and we passed an IV. Once the IV was passed, we gave her fluids very fast.

After passing the nasogastric tube, we started giving her oral rehydration fluids , step by step. In half an hour , her dehydration decreased, she got a bit better, and started responding.

And half an hour after that, she started coming back and started responding a bit. The nearest hospital from here was around 1 to 1.5 hours away.

The woman would have collapsed and died, had first-aid treatment not been given to her. Once she was revived, then she started responding a bit. We then sent her in an ambulance to the nearest tertiary care hospital .”

Truly making a dent in the landscape of poverty ‍ is not an easy feat and we're blessed that with hard work and perseverance , we've been able to take advantage of windows of opportunity as they present themselves. Transformational moments arise when energies and intentions come together and we are blessed to have the backing of an organization as inspiring as Yusuf Foundation.

Warm regards,

The HOPE USA , HOPE UK , and HOPE Pakistan Teams

*Orchestral performance in accompanying video is credited to Epic Orchestra's arrangement of Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (Stranger Things)

Links:

• True Story of a Pregnant Mother's Life Saved by Dr. Mubina
• HOPE USA Website