In Afghanistan Community in Garko Ward of Akko Local Government Area of Gombe State, more than 4,000 residents are cut off from healthcare, schools and markets during the rainy season whenever floodwaters submerge the community’s only wooden bridge linking them to neighbouring towns and a healthcare centre. With pregnant women dying from labour complications, missing antenatal care, sick children denied treatment, poor infrastructure continues to endanger lives and livelihoods. CHIMA AZUBUIKE reports
The pain came once, then again. At 40 weeks pregnant, Hajiya Fatima, as she was fondly called, knew her baby’s arrival was near.
Being a mother of two, the 25-year-old knew the signs of labour and began mentally checking the things she had already prepared for her newborn.
As another contraction tightened across her abdomen, she gently rubbed her belly and whispered reassuring words to the child she was about to meet.
In response, the pain coursed through her, and she hastened to where her maternity bag was already packed.
