Afghanistan, the worst place in the world to be born

Fazila Norullah lost her mother and is now being cared for by her grandmother. An Afghan woman is 225 times more likely to die in childbirth than a woman in the UK. This is the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photograph: Olivia Arthur/MAGNUM PHOTOS/guardian.co.uk Khatera, 12, and Shamayel, 10, during a class at the Working Street Children Centre in Mazar-e-Sharif, supported by Save the Children. In some rural areas, most girls aren't able to go to school, and centres such as these help them get a basic education. Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photos for/guardian.co.uk A trainee midwife examines a pregnant woman in a hospital in northern Afghanistan. Every half an hour, a woman dies from a pregnancy-related problem in Afghanistan. Save the Children is training community midwives. Once the women have graduated, they go back to their villages to help women deliver their babies safely. Photograph: Mats Lignell/Save the Children Photograph: Mats Lignell/Save the Children/guardian.co.uk Zeeba, 27, with her daughter Zahar (47 days) who is suffering from acute malnutrition and is being treated at Aqcha district hospital. Children in Afghanistan are more likely to die before the age of five than children anywhere else in the world, with one dying every two minutes. That's a quarter of all children born in Afghanistan. And there has been virtually no improvement in the child mortality rate in the last 20 years. Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photos for/guardian.co.uk Aziza and her sisters pleat chadors at home to help support their family. Their father is ill and not able to work, so they provide the only income for the family. In Afghanistan many children have to work to support their families. Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photograph: Olivia Arthur/MAGNUM PHOTOS/guardian.co.uk Children peer in through the window of a house in Koama Komar Khan village, Aqcha district. Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photograph: Olivia Arthur/MAGNUM PHOTOS/guardian.co.uk Aziza, 11, and her family gather for lunch, which consists of tea and three loaves of bread for 13 people. Around 70% of the population in Afghanistan live in poverty. More than half of children under five are stunted due to poor nutrition. Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photos for/guardian.co.uk Graves on the outskirts of a village in Aqcha district. In Afghanistan, life expectancy is just 44. Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photograph: Olivia Arthur/MAGNUM PHOTOS/guardian.co.uk Nanajibullah, one, gets weighed and measured at the nutrition clinic in Aqcha district hospital, northern Afghanistan. His mother brought him to the clinic three weeks ago and he weighed 6.2kg. Now that he's being monitored and receiving nutritious food, he weighs 6.5kg. His mother says she struggles to feed her large family. Nearly 60% of children are malnourished and will not recover from the physical and mental damage done by not having nutritious food early in life even if they are treated. Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photos for/guardian.co.uk Nadia (c) with her sister-in-law Ozoda (r) and Aziza after taking their children to be weighed and measured at the nutrition clinic in Aqcha district hospital. The international community needs to ensure families across the country – not just those living in the conflict zones – are able to access the clean water, nutritious food and healthcare. Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photograph: Olivia Arthur/Magnum Photos for/guardian.co.uk