Portrait of a people: An intimate look at life in Afghanistan
Enoch Pratt Free Library, 2nd floor
400 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
1 June to 31 August 2007
 In
a collection of captivating photographs, Kabul-based physician Dr. Nasratullah Ansari of Jhpiego is
offering the public a glimpse into everyday life in Afghanistan—a country struggling to rebuild after
years of isolation and conflict. The photo exhibit is free
and open to the public.
Nasratullah "Nasrat" Ansari is an Afghan physician who has played a key role in helping to
strengthen the country's dire health care situation, particularly in maternal and newborn health, following
years of conflict and isolation. He received his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine, Balkh University,
Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, where he has been a faculty member since 1997.
Nasrat's association with Jhpiego dates back to 2003 in emergency obstetric care. He is currently
the Training and Performance Manager with the ACCESS Program
in Afghanistan. The Program's goal is to reduce the country's extremely high maternal and neonatal mortality and
morbidity, and improve the quality of health care service delivery. Nasrat's vision for his work has become
much broader since he began working for Jhpiego.
He reflected on his hopes for the future of health care in his native country by saying, "I
started thinking about how to save millions of women's lives, how to bring about change to Afghanistan's
health sector, and how to advocate with stakeholders to promote public health in the country."
When he was growing up, Nasrat loved taking photos with his Zenith camera, developing them
himself. However, under the Taliban regime, photography was banned—the word itself was removed from the
dictionary—and Nasrat had to give up his pursuit of photography. He is now making up for lost time and
enjoying photography once again.
Nasrat says, "With my art, I want to share with people—through the heart instead of
face to face—how I see the world through the camera lens: my anxiety about war, my sadness about
poverty, my pleasure in love and affection, and my vision of peace and happiness."
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One of the multiple photo displays in the library exhibit
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About ACCESS
The ACCESS Program is the U.S. Agency for
International Development's global program to improve maternal and newborn health.
The ACCESS Program works to expand coverage, access and use of key maternal and newborn
health services across a continuum of care from the household to the hospital—with the
aim of making quality health services accessible for women and newborns. Jhpiego
implements the program in partnership with Save the Children, Constella Futures, the
Academy for Educational Development, the American College of Nurse-Midwives and
IMA World Health.
About Jhpiego
For 35 years, Jhpiego, (pronounced "ja-pie-go"), has empowered front-line health
workers by designing and implementing simple, low-cost, hands-on solutions that
strengthen the delivery of health care services, following the
household-to-hospital continuum of care. We partner with community- to
national-level organizations to build sustainable, local capacity through
advocacy, policy and guidelines development, and quality and performance
improvement approaches.
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