Misbah was a lucky baby to have been born with a trained com-munity midwife by the side of his mother Rizwana. After only a few minutes in the world, his life was already in jeopardy. Misbah didn't cry, then stopped breathing altogether and began to turn blue. "He is no more!" Rizwana began to wail, using a common expression of mourning in the Punjabi language.

But midwife Noreen Iqbal, who had recently completed a USAID-supported immediate newborn care training program, wasn't so sure. She made a quick assessment of the situation, told Rizwana not to panic, and performed mouth-to-mouth re-suscitation on the baby.

After about eight minutes, Misbah began to breathe on his own, and his color gradually turned from pale blue to white, then pink. Rizwana burst into tears of joy. Her mother began to kiss Noreen's hands.

"The feeling of saving a life is unlike any other," Noreen said. "It was really the happiest moment of my life, and I never could have done it without the skills I acquired during the training."

The need for such training here, in the remote village of Ta-lagang in Western Punjab province, is acute. In Pakistan, 65 percent of all women deliver their babies at home, a mere 8 percent of these in the presence of a trained health care profes-sional. The result is an estimated infant mortality rate of more than 70 per 1,000 births - placing Pakistan 192nd out of 224 countries around the world.

Even before the incident on the day of delivery, Rizwana wasn't sure Misbah would ever be born. After delivering her first child successfully without assistance, she suffered two consecutive miscarriages. It was only then that she approached Noreen in the village one day.

Noreen promised Rizwana that she would do her best to take care of her during pregnancy and labor, and counseled her on maintaining a healthy pregnancy. When the crisis arose, she saved the day.

In Talangang, word has gotten around that Noreen saved Mis-bah's life, and pregnant women have begun to approach her asking for pre-natal consultations, and listened to her advice on breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact between baby and mother, and to delay bathing the baby for 24 hours - all important to saving new lives in the village.