Afghan midwives, both students check to make sure an I.U.D is correctly positioned as they use a flash light to guide them at the Bamiyan Provincial hospital September 2, 2009 in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. The Government of Afghanistan took a strategic policy decision to invest in the training of midwives as skilled providers of maternal and newborn health care, and set about developing a new competency-based curriculum to train and address the massive shortage of female midwives. The 18 months program midwife program is funded by USAID; Aga Khan Foundation who is responsible for the implementation.