Health emergency in Afghanistan
According to American author George William Curtis, happiness lies first and foremost in health. Access to health care can vary across countries, communities and individuals, influenced by social and economic conditions in the same way as health policies. Afghanistan has one of the worst health systems in the world. It tracks most of the globe in all health indicators. The country’s health system has grown very slowly over the years, for quite obvious reasons. Due to decades of war and conflict, the lifespan is reduced to just 42 years.
In 2018, up to 3,135 health facilities were operational in the country to serve nearly 87% of the population. The Afghanistan National Health Policy 2015-2020 focused on five policy areas: governance, institutional development, public health, health services and human resources. The recently developed One UN strategy focuses on strengthening the health system among other health related topics. WHO and other United Nations agencies are helping the government implement the 2015-20 National Health Policy and the 2016-2020 Strategy. However, the UN SDG 3 (towards health for all) and SDG 16 (towards justice and peace to maintain health services in armed conflicts) are far from being achieved.
The situation is so precarious that Afghanistan has only 30 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants. Likewise, there are 40 hospital beds and 20 nurses per 100,000 inhabitants. The numbers are well below what is available, even in other underperforming South Asian countries.
It goes without saying that Afghanistan’s frail economy is unable to support a reliable and comprehensive health system. The government relies heavily on international aid to support and build its health care infrastructure. Prior to the Taliban takeover of Kabul, NGOs were often contracted out to provide care, train local staff and build hospitals across the country.
According to the Red Cross, more than 2,000 health facilities are now closed in this war-torn country. The Afghan health system is on the verge of collapse. There are approximately 20,000 registered doctors and nurses, of whom 7,000 are women. But they cannot be expected to continue working without pay for long.
Sehetmandi is the largest health project in the country with thousands of health facilities. But due to the reduction in donor aid, the project suffered greatly in terms of shortage of medical supplies, in particular. Many of these facilities have now downsized or gone out of business. The project is only about 17 percent operational.
Across the country, people are typically denied access to primary health care, such as emergency cesarean sections and trauma care. Almost half of the country’s children face malnutrition. Measles and diarrhea are at risk of skyrocketing, and polio becomes a major risk. In addition, several health establishments dealing with Covid-19 have been closed.
Lack of health care is one of the reasons Afghan citizens flee their country.
To make matters worse, the United States froze the country’s $ 9.5 billion worth of assets. And the World Bank and the IMF have suspended aid to the country, making it difficult for the Taliban to manage the country’s affairs.
In these circumstances, there is an urgent need for the global community to pay attention to helping the Afghan people when they need it.
First of all, international health aid must be restored as a matter of urgency. The World Food Program and Unicef should step up their response, sending new mobile health and nutrition teams, to address malnutrition and food shortages. World leaders should help accelerate financing to prevent death and displacement and reduce suffering.
Posted in The Express Tribune, October 9e, 2021.
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