Foundation Rescue Mother & Child Afghanistan (RMCA)

Welcome at the website of Foundation Rescue Mother and Child Afghanistan (RMCA). We are an independent and impartial organization that seeks to improve maternal and natal care in Afghanistan. RMCA’s first task is to raise funds and (re)design the health centers in Afghanistan between 2023 and 2025. We are currently speaking with various institutions around maternity care and training in the Netherlands and of course the United Nations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Afghan embassy.

You can of course help us with a large or small donation to open the first health facilities in Afghanistan. Or sponsor with your company.

News from Afghanistan

After 48 days in Afghanistan, under extreme conditions (in terms of winter weather), Mahmood Menapal managed to register our foundation in Kabul. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has given permission and the official certificate. All formalities and proof have been submitted. This means that we can actually start setting up our NGO and emergency care center in the East of Afghanistan. We are very grateful for his hard work and we are hopeful that soon we can start our work with our team in Afghanistan.

Our benefit on January 25th, was a big success

This evening we immersed ourselves in a cultural trip to Afghanistan during the benefit evening of the Rescue Mother and Child Afghanistan foundation in Almere. The proceeds from this evening will go entirely to the establishment of emergency care for deliveries in eastern Afghanistan.

During the benefit evening we enjoyed the famous Ensemble Black Pencil and visited the exhibition The Fire in Their Eyes. Various works of art were auctioned. art auction. It was a tasty evening, including Afghan ‘Fingerfood’.

Board

RMCA has a board in The Netherlands, consisting of the following people:

  • Mahbooba Menapal (chair), born in Afghanistan, geriatric specialist
  • Charlotte Stam (secretary), international development studies graduate
  • Gert Meijer (treasurer), chartered accountant
  • Marcel Kolder (general board member), creative maker, thinker and connector
  • Monica Bouman (general board member), PhD, background in psychology

Mahmood Menapal will be in charge of the three-year pilot project in Afghanistan (June 2023 to the end of 2025). Together with his wife Rona Menapal – she is also a doctor – he would like to go to Afghanistan with this mission as soon as possible.

Jeanine Punt is our advisor and general pediatrician and passionate former AIGT (Doctor of International Healthcare and Tropical Medicine). Her expertise is training in acute care for children and newborns, both for Doctors Without Borders, other foreign NGOs and on our own initiative. Her commitment extends to reducing neonatal and maternal mortality in several low resource countries.

Our goals:

To prevent  Maternal,  Neonatal and Infant Mortality (Afghanistan has one of the worst maternal and infant mortality in the world, with 638 women dying per 100,000 live birth (even 1600/100,000 in 4 provinces according to CDC, UNICEF and Afghan ministry of Public Health report recently).

This number can be lowered by an adequate and proper risk pregnancy management system, which starts with Ante Natal Care (ANC), follow up, guidance of pregnant women and encourage her to deliver in FHH (Family Health House) and PNC (post natal care) and providing prevention regulations like:

  • Vaccinations, healthy food advice and supplying of vitamins and supplements.
  • Preventive measures for TB, AIDS, STI  and other relevant infectious diseases.
  • Early detection of women with having sign of risk pregnancy.
  • Early tracing of complications and vulnerable patients during pregnancy.
  • To provide and avail basic maternity care facilities to the local community on walking distance.
  • Adequately timed referral system including transport to the closest big city hospital.
  • Post Partum Care(PPC), including breast feeding problems, family planning and psychological support of young mothers.

Using Local centers for teaching and training purposes under informed consent and according WHO standards.

Women, family and society empowerment by providing basic maternal and child birth facilities,

Creating health education skills and implement opportunities by active participation of local community.

Our mission, vision and goals are summarized in a speech that was given by our Chair, Mahbooba Menapal, during a solidarity wake for Afghanistan in The Hague on the 13th of August 2023.

Impact Of RMCA

  • A noticeable decline in maternal and new born mortality
  • Local eligible girls and women have the opportunity to be trained as midwife nurses.
  • Women and their guardians would have income  opportunity through their provided services.

RMCA will easily achieve their dreamed goals (decrease of Maternal and infant Mortality in the area) after opening  the program, because of:

  • Having a strong experienced and dedicated team in the Netherlands and also in Kabul.
  • Having a clear and comprehensive plan for implementation of the program.
  • Lack of FHH (Family Health House) and any other specialized Health center in the area
  • Well defined Referral  and follow-up criteria of patients
  • Good coordination among staff in Afghanistan regular contact and online meeting with Board member in the Netherlands.

Board of Trustees

The RMCA Foundation also has a Supervisory Board in the Netherlands that is responsible for supervising the management and affairs of an organization. In addition, the Supervisory Board also acts as a source of strategic advice for the board. Members of the Supervisory Board are currently:

  • Mrs. Marloes Borsboom, Friends of Afghanistan Foundation
  • Mr. Ed Kronenburg, former Dutch ambassador, former civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Friends of Afghanistan Foundation
  • Mr. Koos van Dam, former Dutch ambassador, Arabist and international, conflict mediator

A Supervisory Board is currently also being established in Afghanistan with local experts

WHAT DO WE DO?

History

The initiative to establish a humanitarian foundation for Afghanistan comes from Mahbooba Menapal and her older brother Mahmood Menapal. The Menapals want to help Afghanistan set up a basic health care system. Anno 2023 the most basic services are lacking and women and children in particular suffer. In 2021 they decided to set up a foundation for this purpose.

Mahbooba Menapal and Mahmood Menapal have been living in the Netherlands with their families since 2000 / 2012. As doctors and medical coordinators for refugee camps in Pakistan and around the world both were employed by UNHCR and Médecins Sans Frontières for many years. Until they had to flee themselves. In the Netherlands, both found a safe haven and work.

The Sesame Academy gave them a helping hand to get their Dutch foundation off the ground. Rescue Mother and Child RMC Afghanistan was founded on 30 June 2020 in Rotterdam.

Vision, Mission & Strategy

Vision: The death rate of mother and child in Afghanistan in childbirth is one of the highest in the world and we want to reduce that. We feel committed to save the lives of mothers and children in this vulnerable situation.

Mission: We want to bring down this high mortality rate of mother and child in childbirth in Afghanistan. We make sure that the Family Health Houses (FHHs) open again and the midwives can work again. We ensure that there is a medical College training in Afghanistan for midwives in the FHHs. In this way, they can save the lives of mothers and children in Afghanistan.

How?

For the life and health of women and their communities in rural areas of Afghanistan

  • we open and support well functioning FHHs, family health houses;
  • we provide jobs for Afghans who run the FHHs as midwives and support staff. 

In the field of healthcare education

  • we share knowledge about healthcare education in Afghanistan and in the Netherlands and provide training courses;
  • we develop joint curricula at different levels on healthcare for mother and child.

With whom?

“Do you want to join us?” asked Mahbooba Menapal to each of us.

Because all four of us said ‘yes’, we are now on the board with:

Mahbooba Menapal (chair), Charlotte Stam, (secretary), Gert Meijer (treasurer),

Marcel Kolder (general board member) and Monica Bouman (general board member).

Mahmood Menapal will be in charge of the three-year pilot project in Afghanistan (June 2023 to the end of 2025). Together with his wife Rona Menapal – she is also a doctor – he would like to leave for Afghanistan as soon as possible for this mission.

RMCA Pilot project

The pilot project of RMC Afghanistan, from mid-2023, offers a program in which we reopen three FHHs in the rural area of Afghanistan. This plan is part of a long-term strategy to restore and strengthen the FHHs’ system. In addition, in the same period, an exploration is being made into setting up of college education for midwives in Afghanistan, and preparing an educational offer from the Netherlands.

Family Health Houses (FHHs). Between 2013 and 2021 the Afghan government and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) developed and set up Family Health Houses (FHHs) for communities in rural areas, to reduce maternal mortality rates with basic health care. In summer 2021 there were 172 FHHs, with demonstrably good results for women’s health during pregnancy and the birth of their babies. The local community has a say in the management of an FHH. In an FHH, the midwife is the main responsible. First the local community chooses a woman from among them, who receives vocational training to become a midwife. The women then starts to work as a midwife in the FHH of her community. She has support staff and is also helped by the community. Comprehensive medical care is available at the district level. Unfortunately, these unique health care provisions came to an abrupt halt in the early fall of 2021.

Exploring & networking

In May 2022 to orientate himself on the spot, Mahmood Menapal left for Afghanistan for a three-month stay. He held talks at the Ministry of Health and with NGOs that work with the Ministry of Economy. He also traveled to three rural areas to gauge demand for local health care and to investigate whether reopening an FHH was desirable. He had fruitful conversations with community heads and district administrators.

In the districts of Maidan Wardak, Bamiyan and Chorband (Parwan district) he found promising conditions for the opening of three FHHs. Mahmood also returned to the Netherlands with some verbal commitments from the district administrations and ministries for permits and future cooperation. In addition he received attention for his offer to help establish college training for midwives. The chairman of the Council for Nurses and Midwives would like to work with RMCA to realize such training for midwives in Afghanistan.

Finally

The war in Afghanistan is over, but the country must begin its reconstruction under extremely difficult circumstances. So far, the Taliban’s interim government expects to do so without the active participation of Afghan women. This is first and foremost a violation of the rights of Afghan women. However, the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan will be exacerbated and will be at the expense of many and precious lives. For the board of RMC Afghanistan, this is all the more reason to realize our project. We are convinced that our RMCA program 2023-2026 will have a major impact and save and protect the lives of many women and their families.

For all your questions about the Rescue Mother and Child Afghanistan Foundation (RMCA), please contact info@stichtingrmca.nl.