The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported that Afghanistan’s healthcare infrastructure is “fragile and under-resourced.” The report highlights concerns over the high rate of child malnutrition, rising maternal and neonatal mortality, and an increase in other diseases. Findings indicate that 13.2 million people across all 34 provinces live in areas where primary healthcare services are not accessible within an hour’s walking distance.
Over the past three years, the Taliban’s restrictive policies on women have significantly disrupted Afghanistan’s healthcare system. These policies include bans on medical education and training for women, restrictions on women entering specialized medical programs, replacing doctors with clerics in healthcare management, prohibiting simultaneous visits of men and women to hospitals in some provinces, and barring female doctors and healthcare workers from attending health centers without a male guardian. These measures have exacerbated the healthcare crisis. Many doctors describe the future of the country’s healthcare system as “grim and disastrous,” attributing the situation to the exodus of skilled professionals, the ban on female specialists, reduced motivation among healthcare workers, and the Taliban’s interference in technical affairs.
UNHCR’s health division has reported that 17.9 million people in Afghanistan require healthcare assistance. The report underscores unequal access to health services, with serious challenges to maternal and child health. High rates of malnutrition and mortality, compounded by outbreaks of acute diseases, continue to burden Afghanistan’s healthcare system. Diseases such as measles, acute diarrhea, dengue fever, whooping cough, hemorrhagic fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and malaria have placed immense pressure on the health sector.
Despite efforts to improve healthcare infrastructure, Afghanistan continues to grapple with systemic challenges impeding effective healthcare delivery. Analysis shows that 13.2 million people in 34 provinces lack access to primary healthcare services within an hour’s walk from their homes.
Citing the UNICEF report, UNHCR notes that Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates globally, with 638 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. A severe shortage of qualified nurses is identified as a major contributor to this high mortality rate. Limited resources and weak infrastructure disproportionately impact rural communities and underserved areas, creating significant hardships.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously reported that daily, 24 mothers and 167 newborns in Afghanistan die from preventable causes. WHO emphasized that the healthcare crisis in Afghanistan most severely affects women and children. The organization noted that reduced international aid to Afghanistan’s health sector led to the closure of 428 fixed and mobile health centers in the past year, affecting over three million people, including 600,000 children under five and over 240,000 pregnant and lactating women.
The European Union (EU) has also reported that every two hours, a mother dies in Afghanistan due to preventable reproductive and maternal health complications. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) echoed this, stating that preventable complications during pregnancy and childbirth claim a mother’s life every two hours in the country.
This year, polio cases in Afghanistan have quadrupled. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) reported 22 polio cases in 2024, compared to six last year, all of which occurred in Nangarhar province.
A physician in Afghanistan, speaking under the pseudonym “Omid,” described the Taliban’s restrictions as leading to a “dark and catastrophic” future for the healthcare system. He criticized the Taliban’s ongoing bans on medical education and training, which he said have brought the healthcare system to a standstill. According to Omid, healthcare workers’ morale has significantly declined, and the restrictions have exacerbated their disinterest in continuing their work.
The doctor further explained that Afghanistan’s health sector has lost many professionals due to these restrictions, as they have been forced to emigrate. He warned of an impending severe shortage of female healthcare personnel, a gap that he believes will take many years to fill.
The Taliban’s restrictions on women’s access to healthcare over the past three years have decimated their ability to receive medical services. Policies banning female doctors from entering specialized programs, restrictions on entrance exams for medical fields, and prohibiting women from attending medical institutions have added to the challenges. Female healthcare workers are also required to obtain religious certification and pay 10,000 Afghanis for work permits from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which has also enforced mandatory religious testing for female workers.
The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice recently decreed that sick women cannot be accompanied to hospitals by other female family members, claiming this practice is “immoral and un-Islamic.”
Human Rights Watch has previously expressed concern over Afghanistan’s healthcare crisis in a report titled A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future, highlighting the devastating impact of drastically reduced international financial support on the country’s public health system since the Taliban took power. The report noted that women and girls have been disproportionately affected, particularly due to the Taliban’s abuses.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) had earlier expressed alarm over Afghanistan’s malnutrition crisis, particularly in Kandahar and Paktika provinces. The organizations reported unprecedented levels of malnutrition between May and September 2024, which led to a surge in acute malnutrition among children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers nationwide.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
طالبان و ناتوانی در عرضه خدمات صحی؛ مراقبتهای صحی شکننده و فاقد منابع است | روزنامه ۸صبح
link