FROM THE FIELD
A British Red Cross surgeon has spent seven months working in Afghanistan, where family violence and maternal mortality rates are among the worst in the world.Ken Barrand, from Hampshire, worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which deals with civilian casualties in Afghanistan."Most of the casualties I saw were probably related to family violence," he said. "There are a lot of weapons in the community and people would fight, for example, over land."Every day I would see two or three gunshot wounds, many of these were the result of a family squabble. The hills are also full of mines so there are always lots of mine injuries."It is estimated there have been more than 100,000 landmine victims in Afghanistan over the past 25 years.The ICRC supports the regional referral hospital in Jalalabad, which[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
