Five years after the battle of Mosul (Iraq), the healthcare system in the city remains fragile. Many facilities damaged in the fighting have not been fully rehabilitated yet, and both space and medical supplies are still lacking in comparison to the needs. As a result, thousands of families inside and on the outskirts of the city are still struggling to access quality affordable health care. Amongst the most vulnerable are pregnant women and their babies.

In order to respond to this high unmet need, in 2017, MSF opened a specialised maternity unit in Nablus Hospital, West Mosul, to provide safe, high quality and free maternal and neonatal care to women and their babies in an area of the city where the community and the health system continue to struggle. In July 2019, a second MSF team opened a smaller facility, Al Amal maternity, within Al Rafadain Primary Health Care Centre, also in West Mosul, providing routine obstetric and new-born care, family planning and mental health services.