Maternity In Afghanistan

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - NOVEMBER 7: An Afghan nurse checks the blood pressure of a pregnant woman at the Out Patient Clinic inside the Malalay Maternity hospital November 7, 2002 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Women in the war-shattered country are dying at a staggeringly high rate at childbirth, making Afghanistan one of the worst places in the world for women to become pregnant. A study conducted jointly by the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was released November 6, 2002 and reports that 87 percent of the female deaths at childbirth as preventable. The study recommends broad improvements in maternal health care. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)